Nissan made an important announcement today regarding electrification. The Japanese automaker confirmed that it is developing two new electric vehicles that it will assemble at its U.S. plant in Canton, Mississippi, starting in 2025.
One of the models will carry the Nissan badge, while the other will fly the Infiniti colours. And, surprise, we're not talking about SUVs this time, but sedans.
In the company’s rather long video making the announcement, it is possible to see (somewhere after the 25-minute mark) a sequence in which the two future EVs are previewed, but really just teased. Still, the silhouette of each is clearly visible. We could well be looking at evolutions of concepts already presented in 2019, namely the IMS from Nissan and Inspiration from Infiniti.
The precise role in the range destined for the two new EVs remains to be seen, but it's tempting to guess they will take the place of existing models within each brand’s lineup, for instance Nissan’s Maxima and Infiniti’s Q50. There could also be a reincarnation of sorts of the Q70, Infiniti’s luxury sedan that was killed off a few years ago.
As part of today's announcements, the automaker also confirmed it will invest $500 million to transform the Canton plant to produce the new electric models. The money will retrain and upgrade nearly 2,000 jobs, and the overarching goal is to transform the plan into a manufacturing and technology centre for electric vehicles.
This is the latest installment of the Nissan 2030 plan, which includes numerous investments over the next five years in the United States. In all, Nissan plans to have 23 electrified models in the lineups of the two brands by 2030, 15 of which will be fully electric.
“Today’s announcement is the first of several new investments that will drive the EV revolution in the United States. Nissan is making a strong investment in Canton’s future, bringing the latest technology, training and process to create a truly best-in-class EV manufacturing team.”
- Ashwani Gupta, chief operating officer, Nissan Motor Corporation
2025 is still a long way off and much can change in the interim, of course. However, as early as next year, perhaps even towards the end of this year, we’re likely to see updated versions of the aforementioned concepts showing up at this or that auto show. Another way to tease and inflate interest in the models to come.
