Nissan is investing $500 million to retool its U.S. assembly plant in Canton.
The move will allow for the assembly of two new electric vehicles as the Japanese automaker plans to have electric vehicles make up 40 percent of its U.S. sales by 2030.
Nissan currently operates two assembly lines at its Mississippi plant, employing 5,000 people. At least 2,000 workers will be retrained as part of the new investment.
Fred Lambert, editor-in-chief of Electrek, believes this is great news for Mississippi.
“The future is electric and it is happening faster than most people think,” he said. “If we want to secure jobs in the automotive sector, we need to make sure our production facilities are converting to electric vehicle production as fast as possible. Nissan took a long time in expanding its EV offering with over a decade between its first and second electric vehicle launches in the U.S., but things are finally starting to move with the launch of the Ariya. Now, it’s great that some of its future EVs are going to be built in Mississippi.”
Watch the announcement from Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves and Nissan officials below:
