This should maybe go in the 6th gen forum, but...
I recently went on the Nissan factory tour of the Smyrna, Tennessee plant. It's a free tour, about an hour long. The 6th gen Maxima, Altima, Frontier, Xterra and Pathfinder are produced there. They also have some plant space set aside for the production of their hybrid.
You first watch a 10-20 minute propaganda video where you learn how great Nissan is for Tennessee. They do employ almost 7,000 people in the 5.4 million square foot facility and receive parts from 93 of Tennessee's 95 counties.
Next you ride a tram through the factory and watch actual assembly of the vehicles. It's an amazing process and very interesting. For example, the paint (which is water-based, by the way) process involves 29 steps and vehicles spend longer in paint than in the entire rest of the line.
Unfortunately, the only free samples at the end of the tour were refrigerator magnets. They do have a company store where I picked up 2 shirts and a hat for about $20 (+ TN's 9.25% sales tax )
If you're ever in the Nashville area on a Tuesday or Thursday at 10 or 1, schedule a tour. But make sure you get there half an hour early, just like they say, because you will likely park literally a quarter mile away. (You can get some impressive bird's eye views on Windows Live Local))

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Sounds interesting.

 

Were the red-cushioned seats in the open tram comfortable?

 

That little track behind the factory looks pretty cool. BTW 3 lots full of new cars, its probably a wet dream to see. I know the plant that is 5 miles away from my house (made the neon/SRT-4 and now makes the caliber) when that lot was full of SRT's i'd poop my pants...

 

Living by a car manufacturer is ok I suppose. Before I joined the Navy I lived by Delphi in Kettering, Ohio that GM truck and buses. They make the Buick Rendezvous, Suburban, Envoy, blah blah blah. Although living by a GM plant really wouldn't excite me as living near a Nissan plant would

 

Like a Lexus. And the scratched-up safety glasses made me feel like I was driving my own car (pitted windshield).

 

I wanted to drop off my resume for a test driver position. They now put tents over the new cars after losing $3 million worth to hail damage.

 

Interesting.

Gotta love TN Sales Tax FTL .

I definetly think the only downside for Nissan to have a plant down here is the storms that bring the hail. We have already had pretty rough storms, and the dealerships in the area have a ton of hail damaged cars.

 

Very regressive policy, make the poor people carry the tax-burden. They want to do the same in the Phila. burbs, and the rich want it yesterday. They already got a wonderful thing called a flat tax so their income interests are protected.

Increase the sales tax from 6 to 7%, and then lower property taxes (which are pretty low as it is, i.e. no school or police to mention except for Lower Merion where Kobe went to HS). Until we correct these issues, it's going to be tough going to get the USA back where it once was.

Now if only we could export these products instead of peddling them onto Americans who may not be able to afford them anyway, and so the cycle repeats!

 

I have been to the BMW plant in South Carolina, very cool the things they do before they actually get the car out of the factory.

 

Sounds like a cool place to go check out, especially the test track.

 

9.25%? You need to come to Cookeville (Putnam County). For some annoying reason the sales tax here is 9.75%... And Cookeville is a little town in the middle of nowhere, basically.

And that tour does sound interesting..

 

ROAD TRIP!

Start address: 801 Lentz Dr
Carbondale, IL 62901
End address: Smyrna, TN 37167
Distance: 229 mi (about 4 hours 36 mins)

..........(reads front page of Newspaper)

damm you IRAN ........stinkin' crude oil cost.

All jokes aside, its a great destination for a random road trip on a Tuesday