Nissan is betting a new hybrid Rogue crossover and a major production expansion at its Tennessee and Mississippi plants can revive the Japanese automaker's American fortunes, and align it with Washington's push for domestic manufacturing.
Christian Meunier, chairman of Nissan Americas, told CNBC on Monday that the company is running out of room at its existing U.S. factories and plans to add a third production shift at both its Smyrna, Tennessee, and Canton, Mississippi, assembly plants. The move would roughly double Nissan's American output from nearly 487,000 units in 2025 to approximately one million vehicles a year.
At the center of the expansion sits the 2027 Rogue, Nissan's best-selling nameplate, now offered for the first time with "e-Power" hybrid technology. Nissan revealed the vehicle Monday with a starting price of $35,490 and a top-trim "Platinum" sticker of $43,490. The hybrid version delivers 38 miles per gallon combined, competitive, though still trailing the Toyota RAV4 hybrid at 43 mpg and the Honda CR-V hybrid at 40 mpg.
The Smyrna plant alone covers six million square feet and already builds the Rogue alongside other Nissan and Infiniti crossovers on two shifts. Canton handles the Altima sedan and Frontier midsize pickup. Adding a third shift at both facilities would create hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs, though Nissan has not released a specific hiring figure.
Meunier framed the expansion as achievable without a massive capital outlay:
"I think we're very well equipped to succeed without major investment and a new factory and everything else. Maybe after 2030. Over the next four or five years, we'll see."
He told CNBC that the hybrid Rogue's launch is the catalyst for moving to three shifts:
"We're now maxing out the production capacity in the U.S. The next step is going to be three shifts, and I'm pretty optimistic that with the launch of the new Rogue that is happening in the next couple months, we'll be able to do that pretty quickly with the launch of the hybrid."
Nissan plans to begin building the gas-engine version of the 2027 Rogue at the Tennessee plant this spring. The hybrid variant will initially be imported from Japan, with U.S. hybrid manufacturing expected to start the following year.
The production push fits inside a broader global turnaround strategy. Nissan has set a target of producing 80 percent of its U.S.-sold vehicles domestically by 2030. The company also aims to sell one million Nissan-branded vehicles in both the United States and China by the 2030 financial year, alongside 550,000 annual sales in Japan.
Those are ambitious numbers for a brand that has spent years losing ground to rivals with stronger hybrid lineups. Meunier, who rejoined Nissan in January 2025 after four and a half years at Jeep, acknowledged the gap bluntly:
"The hybrid power that we're launching on Rogue is going to really be the boost to our performance. It's been quite remarkable to be able to grow without having a hybrid in the U.S. because the hybrids are obviously becoming more and more popular."
Nissan's e-Power system works differently from a conventional hybrid. It is a "series hybrid", the gasoline engine acts only as a generator, feeding electricity to motors that drive the wheels. The engine never powers the wheels directly. The battery is smaller than those in extended-range electric vehicles, and the system does not require a plug. For buyers skeptical of full electrics but interested in better fuel economy, it splits the difference without the range anxiety.
Meunier has reason for optimism beyond the product itself. Nissan's U.S. sales rose roughly 10 percent during the first half of the year, even as the broader auto industry declined about 3 percent over the same period, according to Cox Automotive. That divergence suggests Nissan is pulling buyers from competitors, not just riding a rising tide.
Meunier said he expects the momentum to hold:
"I think the next few months are going to be pretty good. Pretty tough, but pretty good. We're going to have a strong close of the calendar year in December."
He also signaled that Nissan plans an unconventional sales tactic: offering potential buyers the chance to test-drive a Toyota RAV4 alongside the Rogue e-Power at Nissan dealerships. The arrangement has not been formally announced, but it reflects confidence that a side-by-side comparison will favor the Rogue, or at least force shoppers to take Nissan seriously in a segment Toyota and Honda have dominated.
Meunier identified the Rogue hybrid and a revival of the Xterra nameplate as his two top vehicle priorities when he returned to Nissan, though no timeline for the Xterra has been disclosed.
The Trump administration has focused on increasing employment and domestic production in the U.S. auto industry. Nissan's expansion fits that priority cleanly. Adding shifts at existing American plants, hiring American workers, and moving toward 80 percent domestic production by decade's end checks every box the administration has emphasized, without requiring taxpayer subsidies or new factory construction in the near term.
For a foreign automaker, that alignment matters. Nissan is not asking Washington for help. It is telling Washington it plans to build more vehicles on American soil, with American labor, using factories it already owns.
Whether the company can execute is another question. The 38-mpg Rogue hybrid still trails its chief rivals on fuel economy. Importing the hybrid from Japan before domestic production begins means early units will carry tariff exposure and supply-chain risk. And doubling output only works if demand holds, a bet that rests on a single new powertrain in a fiercely competitive segment.
But Nissan is doing what American policymakers keep saying they want manufacturers to do: invest in U.S. plants, hire U.S. workers, and build vehicles where they are sold. If more automakers followed that model, the debate over trade and manufacturing might look a lot different.