Nissan to Build Rogue in Japan for US Market from Spring 2016

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Nissan is having trouble keeping up with demand for the Rogue crossover SUV in North America. So instead of expanding the factory in Tennessee, they’ve decided that as of Spring 2016, some units will be imported from the one in Kyushu, Japan.

What’s interesting is that they’ve already had to supplement the Rogue using models built at the South Korean factory in Busan. Demand has risen exponentially since the second generation was launched in November 2013. In the first six months of 2015, 135,000 units were sold in the US alone, up 36.3% from the same period a year ago.

Nissan studied ways to increase production and chose Nissan Motor Kyushu due to its quality, cost competitiveness and flexibility, especially with mixed-production lines. The plant already produces another version of the Rogue for export to North America, which was another key advantage.

The car company is extremely lucky because the Mk2 Rogue is identical to the X-Trail, which wasn’t the case before. Japan produces and locally sells the X-Trail, including a hybrid model launched this year.

Both crossovers are underpinned by the Renault–Nissan Common Module Family (CMF), a toolkit that helps them save money and offer better components. Other vehicles that use the same architecture include the Renault Espace minivan and Kadjar crossover, plus the Qashqai, which is like a smaller version of the Rogue.

Nissan believes that by increasing production at the Kyushu factory, which they opened in 2011, they will once again have annual Japanese production of over 1 million units by the next fiscal year.

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Source: Automotive News http://ift.tt/1UFzsAs