Buyers should be aware that among the Big 3, Nissan as a brand is considered more reliable according to the J.D. Powers and Associates 2003 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDA). At 15th out of 37 total nameplates, it ranks one place ahead of GMC (16), two places in front of Chevrolet (17), eight over Ford (23), with a clear advantage of ten places above Dodge (25).
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| The Titan was conceived, developed, and engineered in North America. (Photo: Nissan) |
"Nissan is taking a big bite by launching three new vehicles from Mississippi at the same time and they have room to expand," he noted.
The USD$1.4 billion, 3.5-million square foot Canton assembly plant officially opened May 27 with the first production 2004 Quest minivan rolling off the line. The plant is capable of building 400,000 vehicles a year (originally it was slated to build 250,000 units annually but received an expansion before the factory was completed), sitting on a 1,400-acre site. In comparison, Ford's Rouge River factory complex in Dearborn, in its heyday before the divestiture of its steel division in 1989, sat on approximately 1,100-acres.
The Titan (a vehicle name that was once owned by Chevrolet, but Nissan won't confirm how they acquired the rights to use it) was conceived, developed, and engineered in North America. Full-size pickup trucks equipped for passenger comfort and cargo capacity are, after all, primarily an American and, to a lesser degree, Canadian phenomena.