The new electric SUV, similar to Nissan’s Rogue Sport, will be launched in the US. The Nissan Rogue-like electric SUV will be the company’s fifth electric vehicle to be manufactured at its plant in Canton, Miss. Meanwhile, Nissan is delaying electric vehicle production (again) after suspending a $500 million investment.
Electric vehicle production in Canton is delayed again
Nissan is postponing electric vehicle production in Canton for the second time this year. After postponing plans to start manufacturing electric vehicles at the facility in January, Nissan is back on track.
Production of the two Nissan electric sedans was scheduled to begin in June 2026. However, Nissan postponed the date to November 2026, citing “the need to enhance product competitiveness,” a note to suppliers said.
According to a new memo he reviewed Car NewsNissan asked suppliers to “stop all development activities related to the EV sedan project until further notice.”
Nissan did not provide a new start date, but said suppliers can expect the update in mid-June. “I think it will take at least six or eight months before Nissan comes back with a new plan,” one supplier said.
“What matters is making sure we launch the vehicles the customer wants, when the customer wants them,” explained Jeremy Babin, president of Nissan of America.
A new electric SUV similar to the Nissan Rogue is coming
In a separate note, Nissan revealed plans to introduce an electric SUV similar to the Rogue. According to GlobalData, the new electric car, codenamed PZ1L, will be similar in size to the Nissan Rogue Sport.
This will be the fifth electric car manufactured in Canton. The automaker’s production plans include a pair of new electric sedans, a Nissan brand (codenamed LZ1F), and an Infiniti model (LZ1E). The Nissan LZ1F was scheduled for production in November 2026, followed by LZ1F production in April 2027.
Nissan will need to act quickly with suppliers demanding answers. Babin said Nissan will provide “clarity” on electric vehicle production “fairly soon.”
Meanwhile, Nissan’s production at the plant is dwindling. The Canton facility was built to support more than 410,000 vehicles annually, but Nissan reduced its capacity to about 270,000 at the beginning of the decade.
Production of the Nissan Titan is scheduled to end this summer, while Altima production will be extended until late 2025.
Take Electric
With Nissan’s U.S. footprint shrinking, the automaker will need to shake things up. Although sales are up 7% in the United States through March 2024, Nissan’s market share has declined in recent years.
Nissan accounted for an 11% share of new car sales in the United States in 2018, but this number fell to about 5.8% last year.
Although Nissan’s decade-old LEAF is no longer very popular (sales are down +50% this year), its second electric vehicle in the US, the Ariya, is starting to make up for that deficiency. Nissan Ariya sales rose 45% during the first three months of 2024, with 4,142 units sold.
Nissan’s LEAF and Ariya are already some of the most affordable electric cars on the market, but competition is heating up.
With Altima sales declining (-13% during March), Nissan may want to accelerate its timeline rather than delay it again.
Production in Canton is expected to reach about 204,500 vehicles in the fiscal year ending March 21, 2025. And with electric vehicle production not scheduled to begin until late 2026 (at the earliest), how does Nissan plan to keep up?
We’ll learn more about Nissan’s electric vehicle production plans soon, and more updates are expected to come in the next few months.
Would you buy a new electric SUV that looks like the Nissan Rogue? By 2027, it will need to stand out, as many competitors will launch similar-sized electric vehicles.
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