Home - Automobile Reviews - Nissan Picks Assembly Site for Altima Hybrid
Nissan Picks Assembly Site for Altima Hybrid
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Altima Hybrid to Use Version of Toyotas Hybrid Synergy Drive System
As of late, the North American auto industry has been abuzz with word of new prospects concerning factories and assembly plants. With Korean giant Hyundais Montgomery, Alabama plant now complete, and churning out the all-new 2006 Sonata, the focus has shifted to Nissan, which has just announced the assembly location of the brands first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. After deliberating between Tennessee and Mississippi, Nissan selected its Smyrna plant located in a suburb of Nashville, TN.
Aside from being the first assembly plant which Nissan built outside of Japan, the Smyrna facility will also be the first to build gasoline-electric  | | Nissan selected its Smyrna plant, located in a suburb of Nashville, TN, for production of its first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle. (Photo: Nissan North America) |
powered automobiles. It is home to the majority of Nissans SUVs and trucks as well, including the recently revamped Xterra, Pathfinder and Frontier models, and serves as the plant for North American market Maximas, and regular gasoline-powered Altimas.
To bring the 25 year old facility up to speed with the latest hybrid technology, Nissan will be investing $10.4 million in new equipment and modifications;  | | Todays hybrid cars most often look much like their gasoline-powered donor cars, while being quieter, more refined and significantly more advanced then their forebears. (Photo: Nissan North America) |
no additional floor space or expansions to the plant will take place. The investment will also be used to train some of the plants 6,700 employees in order to build the more efficient Altima.
Since the creation of the first hybrids some five years ago, the entire market has shifted away from quirky, compromising and odd-looking models such as the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. Todays hybrid cars most often look much like their gasoline-powered donor cars, while being quieter, more refined and significantly more advanced then their forebears.
 | | Manufacturers are eye-to-eye with consumers more reserved tastes, wrapping performance-enhancing and fuel-saving technology in a package thats familiar to the masses. (Photo: Nissan North America) | | align="justify">Vehicles such as the Ford Escape Hybrid, Lexus RX 400h, Honda Civic Hybrid and Honda Accord Hybrid are signs that manufacturers are eye-to-eye with consumers more reserved tastes, wrapping performance-enhancing and fuel-saving technology in a package thats familiar to the masses. Nissans first Hybrid will be like the latest batch of anonymous hybrids, bearing only minor differences such as trim levels, badging and wheels, from regular gasoline-powered models.
Although its yet to be confirmed, expect the Altima Hybrid to use Nissans 175-horsepower 2.5-liter inline-four engine, mated to an electric motor, to power the new hybrid model. A combined output should yield in the neighborhood of about 190- to  | | The green light for the Altima came just a short while after rival Toyota remarked that it would be building a hybrid version of its ever-popular Camry sedan. (Photo: Nissan North America) |
200-horsepower, the equivalent of a V6-powered engine, while generating fuel consumption ratings akin to or better than the compact Sentra. The decision will also allow Nissan to price the Altima Hybrid below the more powerful and more expensive Honda Accord V6 Hybrid, surely helping it gain sales in this tiny but growing segment niche.
Nissans decision to plunge into the hybrid sedan market comes after the announcement that many of its direct Asian rivals are planning to sell hybrid-electric vehicles within the midsize sedan segment. The green light for the Altima came just a short while after Toyota remarked that it would be building a hybrid version of its ever-popular Camry sedan, and Subaru, a hybrid version of its svelte, all-wheel driven Legacy sedan. Ironically, the hybrid technology used in the Altima was developed by and licensed to Nissan via Toyota.
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