Nissan Has Best April Of Any Big Automaker; VW Has The Worst

The Nissan Rogue, which is now built in Smyrna, is quickly becoming a big seller for the Franklin-based automaker. Credit: Nissan

Tennessee’s auto industry represents the best and worst of sales for the month of April. Franklin-based Nissan North America outshined the other big automakers. Volkswagen, with its only U.S. plant in Chattanooga, remained at the back of the pack.

Nissan sales were up 18 percent over the same month last year. Models built in Smyrna had their best showing ever for April, including the Altima sedan and the all-electric Leaf.

Even as industry-wide sales had a slow start to the year, 13 of the last 14 months have set sales records for Nissan.

“I think a lot of this comes from a lot of the new product they have been introducing,” says notes analyst Jessica Caldwell of car-shopping site Edmunds.com. “They’ve kind of been on a tear in terms of getting new products out there.”

Caldwell says Nissan’s new small SUV called the Rogue has done even better than the company expected.

VW, on the other hand, is trying to put the best face on another poor month. Sales are down more than 10 percent for the year.

The one bright spot may be the Chattanooga-built Passat, which represents a third of Volkswagen’s U.S. sales. It was one of the few models that sold more this April than the same month last year.

“I think recently what has really caused Volkswagen to struggle is they are not really strong in truck and SUVs,” Caldwell says. “It seems as with the economy improving, that market has come back. But Volkswagen isn’t really in a position to take advantage of that.”