Nissan Scraps $500M U.S. EV Plant, Shifts Focus to Gas and Hybrid Models

Nissan has abandoned its original plan to invest $500 million in building a fully electric vehicle (EV) production line at its Canton assembly plant in Mississippi, USA. Instead, the company will repurpose the 4.7-million-square-meter facility to produce conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and hybrid models. Nissan stated this move is intended to "better align with current market conditions, customer demand, and Nissan’s updated strategic direction." As part of its "Nissan Ambition 2030" initiative, the automaker had announced in 2021 plans to retool the Canton plant for EV production and battery supply for multiple Nissan and Infiniti models, aiming to sell 200,000 EVs annually in the U.S. by 2028. However, sluggish EV demand in the U.S. market and the federal government's elimination of the $7,500 EV tax credit prompted Nissan to reassess its strategy. Previously, Nissan had already canceled plans to sell the Ariya electric crossover and two electric sedans in the U.S. The company has now completely halted its expansion of EV production. Going forward, the Canton plant will first launch the Xterra model based on a new platform, expected to debut in 2028, followed by a three-row version of the Frontier pickup truck and at least three additional models sharing the same platform. Meanwhile, other U.S. automakers, including Ford and General Motors, have also scaled back or adjusted their EV strategies, shifting focus toward hybrids or internal combustion engine vehicles.