The first U.S.-built 2014 Nissan Rogue that rolled off the assembly line today in Smyrna, Tennessee, is also (coincidentally or maybe not) the plant’s 10 millionth vehicle.
The Nissan Rogue is the last of the carmaker’s five launches of core-volume models in just 15 months. The all-new product offensive that started with the new Nissan Altima has seen the Japanese automaker refresh more than 75 percent of its U.S. lineup.
The transfer of Rogue production to the U.S. is part of Nissan’s strategy to build where it sells. By 2015, Nissan wants to have 85 percent of its U.S.-market products made in North America. The Rogue will also be built in South Korea for the U.S. market.
Nissan’s Smyrna plant was founded more than three decades ago and has produced important nameplates such as Altima, Pathfinder, Xterra, Frontier and Sentra. The plant currently makes the Altima, Maxima, Pathfinder, LEAF, Rogue and Infiniti QX60, as well as batteries for the LEAF.
The Rogue is Nissan’s second best-selling vehicle in the United States, with demand growing nearly 50 percent from just under 100,000 units in 2010 to 142,000 units in 2012. In the first nine months of this year, Nissan sold 124,669 Rogues, up 13.6 percent over the previous year.
The all-new model will go on sale in November and will share showroom space from January 2014 with the current-generation as well, which will be renamed Rogue Select. Nissan says there is still strong demand for the current model so it will continue to sell it for a while.
By Dan Mihalascu
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