SMYRNA (AP) — Nissan is shuffling some North American auto production as it ramps up to make the electric LEAF sedan at its Smyrna plant.
The company announced Wednesday that it will move manufacturing of the Xterra sport utility vehicle and Frontier pickup truck from Smyrna to its plant in Canton, Miss.
That will create extra capacity at the Smyrna auto assembly plant to make the new Infiniti JX luxury crossover, the Nissan LEAF and the next-generation Nissan Rogue.
An adjacent plant is also being built to manufacture the lithium-ion batteries that power the LEAF.
Nissan says the changes will increase its production in the Americas from 69 percent of vehicles sold on the continent now to 85 percent by 2015.