CANTON – Deborah Wheatley had never been to New York City and probably never thought her work as a technician at Canton’s Nissan plant would get her there.
But that made Wednesday’s unveiling of the new Murano at the New York International Auto Show all the sweeter. Wheatley and a small group of Nissan employees from the Canton factory made the trek to the Big Apple for the show.
Wheatley said she’s enjoyed her trip, and said the group had, on top of getting to see the trade show, already visited Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial and the Empire State Building. But at the end of the day they were there for the unveiling of the new crossover.
“The Murano looks really good,” Wheatley said. “It has a ton of features, too, so all-in-all, it’s a nice vehicle. It’s a crossover SUV, and I think it’s going to bring a lot of profit to the company.”
The employees from Canton got to choose from a pool of eight colors for the vehicle for the unveiling ceremony. They chose what Wheatley described as a bronze or copper color that had some orange tint to it. They also got to name it: Pacific Sunset.
Canton will be the global source of production for the Murano and it will export vehicles to over 100 markets. Company officials said this manufacturing decision is part of an overall goal of having U.S. vehicles made in North America.
“Bringing Murano production to Canton is a key component of our plan to build more than 85 percent of our U.S. product lineup at our plants here in North America, as well as to increase vehicle exports from our U.S. plants, ” said John Martin, senior vice president, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Purchasing for Nissan North America. “Canton employees are looking forward to building the all-new Murano alongside the other outstanding cars and trucks that they build in Mississippi today.”
The Canton plant already builds such models as the Altima, Armada, Frontier, Titan and Xterra. The addition of the Murano has spurred growth of a new supplier park.
Still under construction, the park will add a total of 800 jobs, 400 from the supplier end and 400 from Nissan’s end.
The plant began operations in 2003 and employs over 5,600 people, with an annual payroll in excess of $200 million, making it by far the largest economic engine in Madison County and the region. The all-new Murano marks the ninth vehicle to be assembled at the Madison County facility.
