Nissan picks Smyrna for hybrid Altima production

Nissan has announced that it will build the upcoming 2007 Altima hybrid in its Smyrna, TN assembly plant. They hope to build as many as 50,000/year of this model, which would give them a healthy chunk of the hybrid market (estimated to be just under 225,000 vehicles next year). Price and performance have not yet been announced. Nissan is the last of Japan's Big 3 to enter the hybrid market, and they're doing so by licensing Toyota's technology instead of developing their own. It's probably a bit unreasonable to think that this vehicle will make any sort of huge impact on the marketplace as a whole, but its everyday practicality and domestic final-assembly location might be attractive to many buyers.