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**** Nissan to Expand Tennessee Powertrain Plant *** Nissan North America, Inc. plans invest $47.3 million to expand its engine assembly plant in Decherd, Tennessee, with the goal of producing one million crankshaft forgings annually for its U.S.- and some Mexico-built - engines starting in late summer 2006. The automaker will break ground next spring to expand the Decherd facility by adding a 50,000 sq.-ft. extension to the 960,000 sq.-ft. powertrain plant. As many as 70 employees are expected to be added in Tennessee for the expansion. Decherd opened in 1997 and currently makes nearly one million engines annually and 300,000 transmissions. Among the powerplants in its stable are the 2.5-liter four-cylinder, the much-used 3.5-liter V-6, the 4.0-liter V-6, and the 5.6-liter V-8.-Jack Gilbert
**** MISTU NEWS *****
The reeling continues at Mitsubishi, where a string of corporate scandals and financial missteps are still ringing throughout the ranks and the balance sheet. The latest move by the company is to lay off 1200 workers in October of this year at the company's plant in Normal, Illinois, where many Mitsubishi vehicles (Galant, Eclipse, Endeavor) are built as well as some Chrysler Sebring/Dodge Stratus models. Mitsubishi hopes the layoffs will help its bottom line as it pieces together another rescue plan without more financial input from stakeholder DaimlerChrysler, which refused to inject more of its cash into Mitsu earlier this year. DaimlerChrysler's share in Mitsu is expected to fall as a result from 37 percent to about 22 percent, but the companies will continue to cooperate on a new range of small and mid-size vehicles. However, as Mitsu adjusts its workforce at Normal and anticipates slower sales of its own vehicles, it also must adjust for the loss of Chrysler business - the Chrysler Group after 2005 will not source any vehicles from the Normal plant. Mitsubishi sales this year in the U.S. are off more than 27 percent.
Celica, MR2 Will Die After '05 Toyota announced Friday that it will discontinue the Celica and MR2 sports coupes after the 2005 model year, disappointing Ray-Ban-wearing readers of Maxim across America. Perhaps, I'm being too glib. Though these fine and respectable affordable sporty coupes have been steadily losing their audiences over the last decade, we should remember that the Celica was Toyota's first real step out of the utilitarian class back in 1970. And the MR2 was, as Car and Driver said in the early 1990s, "an exotic car for the rest of us."
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