Nissan Electric Vehicles To Be Built In Mississippi In 2028, Not 2027

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Nissan has had plans to build five electric vehicles in Mississippi. However, with changes in the White House and the US EV market, the company has reportedly dropped one of those EV models from the plans (a small crossover) and the timeline has been pushed out from 2027 to 2028 to start EV production in the The Magnolia State. (And, actually, the original plans from 2022 were to start production in 2025.)

The reporting on this originates from Automotive News. They summarize, “Nissan Motor Co. has ditched plans to bring a subcompact electric crossover to the U.S.”

“According to the report, Nissan made plans to build the EV—codenamed PZ1L—at its Canton, Mississippi, plant for U.S. sale. But amid evolving product plans it’s reportedly now consolidating production of that vehicle to its Sunderland, U.K., plant. That likely means the PZ1L won’t be sold in the U.S., according to the report,” Green Car Reports writes.

This could all be because of the changing situation in the US. However, it could also be a more innocuous acknowledgement that small crossovers are just not very popular in the US, where consumers tend to buy bigger vehicles. “At the current time, we are focusing our planning efforts on the other four EV projects for the Canton plant, which will better meet the needs of the market and deliver higher volumes,” a Nissan rep told Green Car Reports. “As is always the case in the planning process, we will continue to evaluate market opportunities for new models and make adjustments accordingly.” Well, it does seem like continuing to monitor at a time when the EV tax credit and a bunch of EV production incentives are being yanked may have had something to do with the reduced US production plans.

The weird thing is that a manufacturing and labor spokesperson at Nissan, Amanda Plecas, said just last week: “Our Canton, Mississippi facility will transform into a Nissan Intelligent Factory, supporting the manufacture of five next-generation electric vehicles beginning in 2028.” Perhaps she didn’t get the memo, or perhaps it hadn’t been sent yet.

At the moment, Nissan’s factory in Mississippi produces the gasoline-powered Altima and Frontier. Perhaps the company just decided that it could push those and other fossil-powered models more in the US with Trump in office and postpone serious EV plans. Whatever the reason, though, Nissan continues to struggle (especially in the US), and it has bled an enormous number of sales (and jobs) in the past 5 years. Are the changes in EV plans a result of the brand’s decline in general? There are a lot of questions that we simply can’t answer.

In the meantime, the Nissan LEAF and Nissan ARIYA are doing much better lately, but Nissan is not close to leading the EV market these days. “The Nissan LEAF has seen a revival. It’s not exactly putting the Altima out of business, but it did have a 170.4% year-over-year increase in sales in the 4th quarter, and a 57% increase in 2024 versus 2023 as a whole. It scored 3,645 sales in the 4th quarter (up from 1,348 a year before) and banged in 11,226 sales in 2024 (up from 7,152 in 2023).

“The Nissan Ariya didn’t grow by quite as much on a percentage growth basis, but it did achieve a higher volume of sales. Its 4th quarter sales were up 30.2%, from 3,765 sales to 4,901 sales. Its total 2024 sales were up 47%, from 13,464 to 19,798.”

Could it be that the revived success of these EV models is what’s delaying the production and introduction of news ones in the US?

While we don’t know all of the factors that led to recent decisions, I do presume the biggest factor is Donald Trump taking office again and attacking all support for electric vehicles in the country.