Nissan Motor Co. is planning to spend more than ¥130 billion ($1.2 billion) implementing new technologies that will make its global factories more efficient, less polluting and ready to produce next-generation cars such as electric vehicles.
As part of its "Intelligent Factory Initiative,” Nissan has spent about ¥33 billion over the past two years installing advanced equipment at its plant in Tochigi Prefecture. The company now plans to bring the same initiative to major plants in Japan and the U.S., Nissan Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto said in an interview Friday.
The plants Nissan is looking to furnish with new investment include its Oppama and Kyushu factories in Japan and its Canton and Smyrna plants in the U.S. Investment in those latter two plants will top ¥70 billion while each Japan plant will receive around the same amount injected in the Tochigi site, Sakamoto estimated, adding that new equipment will be introduced at the sites gradually over a period of around seven years.