Nissan May Build Second Assembly Plant in U.S.

Nissan Motor Corp., the No. 3 Japanese auto maker in the United States, may build a second assembly plant in this country, the president of the company’s American manufacturing arm said Tuesday.

“Sometime in our future there is another plant and another site,” Jerry Benefield told reporters at an automotive conference. He said a decision would depend on the company meeting its U.S. sales projections.

Benefield said the company expects to sell 1 million cars a year in the United States by the mid-1990s, 50% of which would be U.S.-made. Toward the end of the decade, the company hopes for annual U.S. sales of 1.5 million vehicles, with two out of three built in the United States.

He gave no time frame for the potential new plant but said if the auto maker plans to go ahead, a decision would have to be made by the mid- to late-1990s.

The company’s Smyrna, Tenn., car and truck plant has production capacity of 240,000 vehicles a year. However, it is investing $490 million to expand that to 440,000 vehicles a year by 1992.