In mid-2016, Nissan Motor Co will start producing the highly popular Rogue crossover SUV (X-Trail in Japan) at its production subsidiary in Kyushu for export to North America. The production, at an annual pace of 100,000 units, will complement that of the current model of the Rogue in Tennessee, United States and Busan, Korea.
The Rogue, one of Nissan's core models, has been an in-demand model since its launch in the US in November 2013 due to its optimal size, user-friendly utility space and environmental performance. January to June sales were about 135,000 units, up 36.3% on the same period last year.
Nissan says it studied ways to increase production of the vehicle, and chose Nissan Motor Kyushu due to its quality, cost competitiveness and flexibility, especially its gold-standard mixed-production lines adopted from the Renault-Nissan Alliance. It also helps that the plant already produces another version of the Rogue for export to North America.
Since it was set up in October 2011, Nissan Motor Kyushu has become a Global Cost Leader within Nissan's global production structure, with innovative logistics improvements between itself and the plant in Korea through the use of trucks with both Japanese and Korean license plates and in the expanded use of automatic guided vehicles.
The 2014 Nissan Rogue is the first vehicle to utilize the new jointly developed Nissan/Renault Common Module Family (CMF) platform architecture.
The additional production is expected to help Nissan bring its annual Japanese production level back to 1 million units in fiscal year 2016.