By LINDSAY CHAPPELL AND YUZO YAMAGUCHI | Automotive News

Nissan Motor Co. has dispatched about 200 engineers from Japan to address quality problems at Nissan's new assembly plant in Canton, Miss.

The engineers also are examining Nissan's car factory in Smyrna, Tenn., a component engineering center in Farmington Hills, Mich., and an unspecified number of supplier plants.

The move comes just weeks after Nissan's dismal showing in the 2004 J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study of consumer perceptions of product quality. The first three nameplates launched at Canton - the Quest minivan, Titan full-sized pickup and Pathfinder Armada SUV - each scored last in their segments.

CEO Carlos Ghosn last week addressed Canton's quality issues during the Nissan shareholders' meeting in Tokyo.

"You can't expect a new plant to start to give the same level of efficiency as other plants which are 25 years old," he told shareholders.

According to the J.D. Power study, complaints about vehicles built in Canton ranged from wind noise, loose molding and brake pedal vibration to paint chips and blemishes.

The $1.4 billion Canton plant is only a year old. It was built in just two years. The assembly plant produces four all-new models using a new work force, a new U.S. engine operation and new suppliers.

Despite the quality problems, Nissan's U.S. sales are healthy. For the first five months of 2004, combined U.S. Nissan and Infiniti sales were up 28.2 percent.

But Kunihiko Shiohara, analyst at Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd., is alarmed. "Nissan tapped into new segments quickly," he says. "So it seems like Nissan gave quality a second priority."

 

 

Now I see why some people try in all ways to avoid buying a North-America-made RX330.

Hopefully Lexus isn't moving more assembly lines offshore.

 

North American plants building Japanese designs don't necessarily have to mean low quality....even on start-up. Heck, the Camry and Accord both had superb quality from day one.....even at the Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY, and the Honda plant at Marysville, OH. And Nissan's other U.S. plant at Smyrna, TN had a good quality record from day one, too....Sentras and Altimas have been built there for years without problems.

 

So true...I shouldn't have made such an generalization. There are always outstanding exceptions, not to mention that the domestic cars have fared quite well in recent quality studies.

 

These problemed plants seem to concentrate in the deep south? (MB in Alabama, BMW in SC, now Nissan in Miss)

 

It is good to see Nissan making a concentrated effort to become better.

I hope it works out. There is a lot of potential.

-Anthony

 

like many things in life...it takes time