Nissan Group’s first quarter 2020 sales were 257,606 units, a decrease of 29.6 percent versus the same period in 2019.
However, some vehicles did better than others, most notably the Nissan Murano, which had a 34 percent increase in sales in the first quarter to 15,683 units. The Pathfinder SUV also sold 18,092 units, a 4 percent increase, and the NV200 commercial van rose 2 percent with 4,740 units sold.
The Pathfinder is made at Nissan’s plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, while the Murano and NV Cargo and NV Passenger vans are made at the company’s Canton, Mississippi facility.
The Smyrna plant also makes the Altima, Maxima, Leaf, Rogue and Infiniti QX60.
For the first quarter, the Altima sold 47,347 units, an 8 percent decrease from the previous year. The Leaf sold 1,958 units, a 27.1 percent decrease, while the Rogue sold 59,716 units, a 36.3 percent decrease.
The Infiniti QX60 sold 9,061 units, a 29.4 percent decrease. But the vehicle taking the biggest hit in sales was the Maxima, which sold only 6,102 units, a 42.2 percent decrease.
At the Canton plant, Nissan makes the Altima, Frontier, Titan and Titan XD, in addition to the Murano, NV Cargo and NV Passenger.
For the first quarter of 2020, the Frontier sold 10,280 units, a 49.2 percent decrease. The Titan was also down with only 5,732 units sold, a 40.8 percent decrease. The sales were 3,728 units, a 17.3 percent decrease, for the NV model.
In addition to the automotive assembly plants, Nissan also has an engine plant in Decherd, Tennessee that makes engines for the Nissan and Infiniti models, including the emotor assembly for the Leaf.
The plant makes 2.5 liter 4-cylinder engines, 3.5 liter 6-cylinder engines, 4.0 liter 6-cylinder engines, and 5.6 liter 8-cylinder engines.
