Leafs being Produced Now? Smyrna Factory status

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voltamps

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2020
Messages
233
Anybody have any insight on Leaf-Smyrna factory closures this year? As in, how many weeks did the factory close, so far, this year? Any in 2020? Impact on the workers' salaries? Do we need Michael Keaton to make a return appearance to motivate the workers there again ("Gung Ho", 1986) ?
..... Any opinions or insights or crazy conjecture is good.

I asked one of our members @knightmb who leaves near Smyrna about Leaf production activity recently.
He said he read a story about how it is being stopped again for a bit, so I guessed he meant Nashville's "Tennessean" newspaper. It was. Good story, really a 3rd-world country covid-19 problem at it's root, although it's a "chip shortage" to us.

Chip-shortage (covid-19 in Malaysia) induced closure is from Aug. 16 to Aug. 30, and who knows what they will update those dates with later.

A couple of dealerships in my area have said, on their websites, they were getting some '22 Leafs on the way. Now they all have taken that info down. Slim pickins'.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/cars/2021/08/10/nissan-plant-closure-chip-shortage-smyrna-tennessee/5562602001/
 
We are down to 8 new leafs for sale in the province. They will be gone within a week. Even used leafs are scarce. Big demand for all EV’s here but very few available. 5 month wait for a Tesla right now. Nissan is telling people spring 2022 for a leaf. There are bolts trickling in but they are gone as soon as they hit the lots. Same with Mustang Mach E. Volkswagen ID4 will have very little presence here as it looks like only a few dealers in Vancouver will sell them. A friend who works at the local VW dealer here says they have no intention of doing the dealership upgrades required to sell EV’s.

Interesting times.
 
webeleafowners said:
We are down to 8 new leafs for sale in the province.
That describes Colorado basically too.

Still, Smyrna is only "scheduled" right now to be shut down Aug. 16 to the 30th.
I've heard of earlier shutdowns in 2021. Sporadic production of course lowers numbers, and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better finishing out 2021.
I read where the Ariya, much anticipated, is being put off a few months til 2022 for it's N. American launch. That actually makes sense to me business-wise, since their extremely highly profitable (per unit) Rogue & old/new Frontier, etc., crossovers, SUVs, & pickups, are selling well at high prices right now. The Ariya might not have the per-unit profit margins the ICE models have. As for Altimas & Sentras, here in the states those are fading in popularity, so might as well allocate scarce chips into the high profit models.
 
https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/nissan-extends-smyrna-shutdown from Aug 27th and which I hit a paywall on says Smyrna will be idled thru Sept 12.
 
As '22 Leafs are just starting to show up at dealers in California now, what is the lag time between production and arrival on a lot in California?
I.e. the 4 week halt in Leaf production is going to put a 4 week gap in the pipeline; when will that 4 week gap show up as a dry spell in new Leafs arriving in California?

I need to buy a replacement for a recalled Bolt EV, and I'm trying to decide between buying one of the first '22 Leafs that show up here (meaning soon, next week or the week after), or waiting a month or two. Not much point in waiting if there won't be any additional selection.

Cheers, Wayne
 
Make sure that you drive one, first. The '21+ Leaf is a somewhat different animal to drive. Eco is too sluggish unless you floor it, and while D is still peppy, I think that it too is slower. That's just as well, because if the choices were the new Eco pedal mapping or the older D pedal mapping, you would have to choose between two extremes, with no good mode for normal driving. I leave my '21 in D unless I'll be doing urban driving only.
 
Similar to Wayne's situation, I'm contemplating pursuing buyback for my Bolt since I'm in CA (and am now under recall since all Bolts are as of 8/20/21) to see what GM's willing to offer.

I'm unsure what I'd replace it with though and whether it'd be a temp or permanent replacement. I probably won't buy a new Leaf (CHAdeMo and rapidgate, esp. on 40 kWh). Leaf Plus obviously has the same issues too but maybe less on the rapidgate front. Leasing Leaf? Hmmm...

This unfortunately is a lousy time to buy a new or used car and I doubt it's a great time to lease...

https://www.nissanusa.com/shopping-tools/search-inventory claims there are a bunch of '22 Leafs both Plus and non-Plus in the Bay Area. Not sure if the entries are bogus or real...
 
cwerdna said:
https://www.autonews.com/manufacturing/nissan-extends-smyrna-shutdown from Aug 27th and which I hit a paywall on says Smyrna will be idled thru Sept 12.
https://archive.is/GRRYu is a copy that I can view. I told https://archive.is/ to archive it.
 
wwhitney said:
As '22 Leafs are just starting to show up at dealers in California now, what is the lag time between production and arrival on a lot in California?
I.e. the 4 week halt in Leaf production is going to put a 4 week gap in the pipeline; when will that 4 week gap show up as a dry spell in new Leafs arriving in California?

I need to buy a replacement for a recalled Bolt EV, and I'm trying to decide between buying one of the first '22 Leafs that show up here (meaning soon, next week or the week after), or waiting a month or two. Not much point in waiting if there won't be any additional selection.

Cheers, Wayne

I'd guess it takes 1 week to get a Leaf on a train in Smyrna, & arrive in California.
That said, I think the Leaf factory is still down or just came back up only a few days ago, because the #1 Volume Leaf Dealership in the U.S., Tynan Nissan (Aurora CO), currently has only ONE '22 Leaf in stock, discounted $4k off MSRP, an SV+. That is sad. :cry:
(( They do have several of the hot-selling new re-designed Frontier pickup trucks, not cheap, but I'm surprised they even have a few of them sitting around. ))

I'm currently going through similar "Chip Anxiety" since I ordered a '22 Ford Maverick PU (hybrid) a couple of months ago, and Ford has no idea when they can bring it. The dealership says they'll sell it for MSRP, which is quite low, although I'll believe it when I see it. No money down, so I may say "No" if they try to charge me $2k for pinstripping or some other trick they can think of to go back on their word. Dealerships aren't known for ethics, honesty, etc.

As for you folks wanting to get rid of your Bolt, Why do that? You get a new battery soon-ish. That adds a few years to it's life. Just park it outside and charge it until the new battery arrives. Good deal to keep it. Just drive it. My 2 cents worth.
 
Well, Leafs are in production now, at a pretty high rate I'd guess. I just bought one today, a blue SV+.
I opted for the 215 mile range this time. Last time (2020 SV) it was the adequate 149 mile range one.

I like the LED daytime running lamps, & new to me is the CoPilot 360 thing. The greater power compared to the lower range models will be nice too.
Dealership is prepping the car still, as it just arrived from good ole Smyrna on a Chattanooga Choo-choo.

Chip shortage may still affect them off and on. And inflation in general, with supply chain constipation, must hurt going forward.
 
My housemate's SV+ is deep blue, and she likes it. I like it too, but not really any more than the Brilliant Silver and Scarlet Ember that I've had. I find that in low light it's a bit too flat looking - as if the car has been repainted in a body shop. That's just me, though.
 
Is the Symrna factory shut down again?

The Nissan Inventory Search tool shows only 2 Leafs within 500 miles of Symrna. Maybe the 2023 MY switch has started early?

Oak Ridge TN dealership has one I was interested in, but wanted $40,000 for SV MSRP $30,760. The SV 40 KWH fits my needs perfectly, but sadly has been discontinued for 2023.

I did a little research on Chevy Bolt and Lake Orion Assembly plant seems to be dedicated to producing them since the April 4 restart. If a lot of them become available and priced right. I may go that route.


nissanusa.com/shopping-tools/search-inventory
 
All Leafs have been gone from Chicsgo area for weeks now. A couple.available 200+ miles away. Is this the big switch over for them to Ariya maybe?

If we needed a new car, I would definitely look at an EUV.
 
I wonder what my housemate's loaded low mileage 2020 SV+ will be worth when her lease ends, if she can't afford to keep it. Or my 2021 SV40, when my lease ends in 3 years...strange times.
 
ddansb01 said:
I did a little research on Chevy Bolt and Lake Orion Assembly plant seems to be dedicated to producing them since the April 4 restart. If a lot of them become available and priced right. I may go that route.
Correct on the restart. Some GM dealers may have unsold '20 to '22 Bolt EV and '22 EUV that they cannot sell until their specific VIN is eligible for replacement battery and the pack's replaced. GM dealers can't sell GM cars w/open recalls. Those would've been made before Aug 2021 (https://news.gm.com/newsroom.detail.html/Pages/news/us/en/2021/aug/0820-bolt.html).

The '23 Bolt MSRPs dropped: https://www.kbb.com/car-news/2023-chevy-bolt-ev-euv-get-dramatic-price-cuts/. Recently, it looks like there's a rebate/customer cash on '22 Bolt EV and EUV since their MSRPs didn't drop. Try https://www.chevrolet.com/electric/shopping/configurator, clicking either car then the symbol next to the Net Price After Offers. You should see $5900 off for EV and $6300 off for EUV.

Besides Bolts, there aren't too many other BEVs in the same sort of price range as Leaf. You can look at https://insideevs.com/reviews/344001/compare-evs/. I'm now leasing a '22 Niro EV after having my '19 Bolt bought back at end of Jan 2022 in exchange for a very nice check.

At the time, I was considering leasing a Leaf, taking over a Leaf lease or buying/leasing Niro EV, Kona EV and ID.4. Used Leafs were priced crazy high as the MSRPs on '22 Leafs dropped a lot vs. '18 to '21, yet the '18 to '21 Leaf had nutty high prices vs. buying a new '22 and taking the $7500 Federal tax credit.
 
Maybe the Smyrna factory stopped again. There are few-to-none new Leafs in Colorado.
The used Leafs are way over-priced too.

I just checked "The Tennessean" newspaper website, and nothing new there. I found a couple of articles about EVs in general, and saw the old 2021 article about plant closings I started this thread with. Maybe they just don't alway keep up with closings or status at the newspaper.
 
I've seen some folks post pics on Leaf FB groups of '23 Leafs they've received. You can tell by the wheels.

Short of Nissan publishing any news there, one would have to find out via other means (e.g. dropping by the plant to see what vehicles come out via trucks or are on the lot, pinging suppliers for Leafs, contacting workers there, etc.)
 
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