Nissan to move headquaters to Tennessee
Nissan North America is about to announce its decision to move headquarters to Cool Springs, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. Sources close to the company's decision making process have told The Tennessean that the choice as already been made, despite public comments to the contrary from Nissan. Nissan already employs 8,000 people in the state and the headquarter move would bring an additional 1300 jobs. Nissan is currently unhappy with the business climate in California and is looking to cut costs by the move. We've posted before that many of Nissan's employees in California are looking at their employment options as this move was first brought to light. Thanks to James for the tip.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
KT 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
I'm from Franklin, TN and those who don't make the move will be the ones missing out. The area is beautiful, the people are nice and last but not least...it's hella lot cheaper to live there. That $750k 1500sq/ft ranch in Cali would equate to a 5000sq/ft monster on a 2 acre lot in a subdivsion (if that's what you want).
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Steve S 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
I hope this doesn't equate to a brain-drain for Nissan. There is a reason alot of the design studios are in Cali and not the bible belt.
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Erik 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Hey KT, I'm from Nashville. All this means to me is more subdivisions and office parks eating up the land that makes this area beautiful. Cool Springs is a bland, corporate, sprawling mess of chain stores and cookie-cutter housing developments and this is only going to make it worse. I wish they would stay in Cali.
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Johnny Joker 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Well Cali is already full of cookie cutters and mirror-image plazas. Why not spread the joy to our bible-thumping friends.
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Jeff 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
I am guessing that since manufacturing and the associated procurement and accounting functions are already here that many of the more wanted individuals already have an idea of what to expect from this area. The people who are closed minded (the posters infaturated with the bible belt idea) are those with no idea what the real new south is like.
Go ahead and bask in your "California is Everything" mindset while the rest of the world moves away from you. The design stuff is remaining in La Jolla anyway. That just leaves the overpaid, Compton middle management to make fun of TN.
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s 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
To Mr Franklin, TN,
Nissan is located in Los Angeles and I doubt Cool Springs near Nashville is worth the change. I'm sure it is boring as hell there. Los Angeles is a much more active city and I doubt most of the LA employees will move to TN just because it is cheaper. Country living isn't for the city types.
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Scott 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
1. Let the Left run your State.
2. Let them punish the achievers.
3. Watch the achievers set up shop elsewhere, taking their jobs, brains, and taxes with them.
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hans 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
i grew up near where nissan headquarters is. a lot of the design studios are here (honda and toyota headquarters are also within 2 miles of the nissan one) and well the design studios are why they are here not to mention to closeness to ports in japan etc in long beach. oh well i think this could indeed lead to a brain drain.
nissan is already behind honda and toyota in hybrids, diesels etc.
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Non-Bizarro Adam 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Wow, I love how all of these people who have probably never been to Nashville all of a sudden jump to conclusions about the bible-belt and "country living". If any of you morons had ever been to Nashville, you'd know there is quite a lot to do around there, and as anyone who actually lives in the South will tell you, there is very little difference between a mid-sized southern city and a mid-sized northern/western city as far as "bible-thumping" and "country living" are concerned. Having spent a lot of time in Nashville, Atlanta, San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, and DC, I can tell you that Nashville is actually high up on places I would like to settle down. Its not like there are street preachers on every corner and big buck hunters running around. And it is a hell of a lot better than sitting in LA traffic, breathing LA smog, and worrying about LA crime.
In short, get your heads out of your asses Steve S, Johnny Joker, and s. You obviously have no experience in the South and are only regurgitating the mass media stereotypes that are shoved down your throats.
And to Scott, Amen, from someone who has seen first hand how crazy Cali can be.
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James 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Adam--
bit of pot, kettle, something about calling black there? Have lived and worked in quite a few parts North and South myself (Portland, SF, LA, SD, Seattle, Cleaveland, Chicago, Houston, Austin among the highlights), I admitedly did find myself pleasently surprised by Nashiville when I found myself on assignment there for a 6 week span. It certainly is far from the country bumpkin image that many likely hold of it and offers quite a bit to do--felt almost like a smaller Austin given the copious amount of live music.
BUT, as some one who does live in Los Angeles currently, the two are going to offer things that appeal to two very different types of individuals. Just like Nashville isn't a bunch of cousin marrying country bumpkins, LA isn't all sillicon filled "actresses", smog, traffic and crime.
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Non-Bizarro Adam 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Actually, My digs at LA involve a particularly sordid two-week span in which there were 8 "Black Flag" days (don't go outside cuz smog is too bad), I spent 2 hours trying to go 10 miles in my car, and when I reached my destination (my uncle's house), I left an hour and a half later to find my car stereo had been stolen. Maybe it is not right of me to hold this against LA for eternity, because before then I had liked it ok (although the traffic always bugged me, just like here in DC). The difference is that I have been to LA and had real experiences that have shaped my opinion of the place. These people spewing their misconceptions obviously haven't been to Nashville, and are just talking out of their asses.
BTW, I like your comparison to Austin. Had a great time there once on spring break. Another fine American city most people probably don't give a chance but is a hell of a good time.
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N 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
About Nashville being no different from any small to medium city: I was going to go to med school at Vanderbilt, went down to look for a place. Between the Vandy roommate listings being for "Christians only," and being asked if I was a Christian when I would call people who listed rental properties, I got a certain sense of why it was the buckle on the Bible belt. I went to a Catholic University too, and had never had anything like that happen.
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N 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Oh, and Austin is awesome.
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Steve J 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
KT: "I'm from Franklin, TN and those who don't make the move will be the ones missing out. The area is beautiful, the people are nice and last but not least...it's hella lot cheaper to live there."
California's gorgeous, I've quite honestly never been anywhere where the people aren't generally nice, and yeah, it is a lot cheaper to live there. But that's not all there is to life. There are going to be a lot of people who are not going to be willing to give up southern California's climate, the ocean, the mountains and the lifestyle here. Nashville's a very different place, with a different pace and way of life. Neither's better or worse, but each place fits different sorts of people differently.
Nissan's going to lose a lot of people with this move. A lot.
Steve S: "I hope this doesn't equate to a brain-drain for Nissan. There is a reason alot of the design studios are in Cali and not the bible belt."
Nissan aren't talking about moving their design studios, which are 75 miles away from HQ in northern San Diego County. Nissan does risk losing a lot of talented marketing and product development people, however.
NB Adam: "And it is a hell of a lot better than sitting in LA traffic, breathing LA smog, and worrying about LA crime."
From complaining about people who are stereotyping to ... stereotyping. How long ago were you in LA? There haven't been eight black flag days cumulatively in the last half dozen years, let alone in a couple weeks. I've lived here three years and never come anywhere close to being victimized by any crime, most of which is centered in specific areas you know well enough to stay away from in the first place. Yeah, the traffic blows. Find me a major American city anymore where that isn't the case. And the smog here isn't a tenth of what it used to be. Not that we're talking pristine skies every day, but as someone with major sinus and allergy issues, with some asthma thrown in, I happen to breathe better out here than any place in the middle of the country I lived.
LA's not perfect. Nashville's not hicksville. But a lot of people are not going to make the move, and Nissan's moving to an area where there's no pool at all of automotive talent. Other than pure costs for taxes and the like, I really don't see an upside to this move. It seems to be a pennywise and pound-foolish move. The pool of auto talent in southern California is unequaled to any other city in the world, including Detroit. That'll be a void that'll be tough to overcome.
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ger3sf 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
OTOH, senior mgmt from Nissan/Renault can impart more-worldly views on the locals. Teach them a thing or two about diversity, tolerance, etc.
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Mal Fuller 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
#2, Steve S. says "I hope this doesn't equate to a brain-drain for Nissan."
Steve S. see # 8, James below and be reassured that the "brain-drain" knows no boundaries!
#8, James says "I admitedly did find myself pleasently surprised...." &
"LA isn't all sillicon filled "actresses"....."
Hey James, even most " Tennessee bumpkins" can spell the words pleasantly & silicon!
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Jay 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
>Nissan does risk losing a lot of talented
>marketing and product development people,
>however.
This is true, but it's not like there aren't any talented people in Tennessee. It's not like all those talented people in the California offices were originally from California. I'm sure a good portion of them were educated elsewhere and moved to California seeking jobs because that's where those kinds of jobs are. And it's not like every single person in Tennessee wears bib overalls and walks around with a pitchfork and three teeth in their head. I see it as an opportunity to establish something good in a location where talented people that may not have the means or desire to get out to California can have an opportunity to show off their skills. I hope it works well for Nissan.
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KT 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
I understand that inexpensive living isn't the end all be all for many people. However, in articles I have read regarding this topic it irratates me what some of the employees think. Bascially what NB Adam was commenting to. Many of my friends and co-workers are from other parts of the country (3 from Palos Verdes(sp?) and they love it. They have relatives that have come to visit and decided to move to Nashville.
I'm just saying don't knock it 'til you've tried it.
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Steve J 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Jay, I'm sure there are plenty of talented people in Nashville. How many talented *auto* people are there, though, or even people with auto industry experience? There's the rub. It's one thing to be talented; it's quite another to be talented and have expertise in a particular industry. Poaching talented people from, say, HCA isn't going to do much good, because there's not a whole lot of similarity between running hospitals and selling cars. That's the biggest thing I don't get about the move. There's a reason the auto business has, with a couple isolated examples (Subaru, Porshce), congregated in three areas in the country.
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Bone 10:46PM (12/18/2005)
Scott says:
1. Let the Left run your State.
2. Let them punish the achievers.
3. Watch the achievers set up shop elsewhere, taking their jobs, brains, and taxes with them.
uh...Scott?
Probably the most questionable aspect of this move by Nissan is that a large amount of its "achievers" are expected to want to stay right here. Also you will find that the most "left" part of the state (both politically and geographically) is along the coast where you will find more of your "achievers" than you ever imagined existed. (Orange County notwithstanding, and even they have Lefty Laguna Beach)
There is a lot of blather from the right about CA being unfreindly to business, but the fact is the biggest cost downside of doing business in the Golden State pretty much comes down to real estate.
A lot of people want to live here.
Can't imagine why except for maybe the ocean, mountains, nearly ideal weather, almost endless areas of opportunity (entertainment, automotive, finance, energy, marketing, technology, etc).
Now generally the only major room for new housing is east which unfortunately offers a combination of desert landscape and long commutes (Most often the offices are still near the coast because the top execs can afford to live there.
This results in ever-rising pressure on home prices in any coastal county. Consequently, for companies to attract the people they want, they have to pay them more because if you are an "achiever" chances are you don't want to raise your family in a two bedroom apartment.
So a $200K home ends up going for over $750K and what is normally a $65K position now has to be over 100K. (as you can see, at the sub top-exec level, the salaries still don't catch up to the housing).
The high cost of employee salarys plus the high cost of the company's own grounds is far more of a factor than any corporate tax structure.
Life doesn't always work according to your right wing binary thinking, Scott. Maybe you should stay on the subject of cars.
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