Nissan Opens Facility in New Jersey

Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY) has announced the opening of its New Jersey Service Training Center. The training center is one of the eleven Nissan and Infiniti training centers in U.S. Together they serve about 230 Nissan and Infiniti dealerships covering more than 1,800 technicians.

The new training center, which is located in Somerset, New Jersey, will be providing training on Nissan and Infiniti products and technology in the Northeast region. Nissan believes that the trained technicians will enhance customer satisfaction.

The facility is spread over an area covering 31,000 square feet consisting of five training classrooms, which will be used for technical training and a 28-bay workshop, of which two bays are assigned for alignment & wheel service. The training center also comprises component repair room for engine and transmission training and a large classroom for a variety of classes.

The New Jersey center will be of added advantage to both Nissan and Infiniti for focusing on quality enhancement of the products, along with the launching of new products. The company claims that it will also support the introduction of 5 new vehicles in U.S. in the coming months.

Over the last four months, Nissan launched training centers in Tennessee, California, Texas, and New Jersey. It also has plans for setting up training facilities in Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The company has so far invested $15 million for new training facilities.

Nissan saw a 7% year-over-year increase in profit in fiscal 2011 (ended March 31, 2012) that registered ¥341.43 billion ($4.32 billion) or ¥81.67 ($1.03) per share. Sales in the year improved 7% year-over-year to ¥9.41 trillion ($118.95 billion). The results were driven by strong demand for the company’s vehicles along with frequent product launches during the year and market expansion programs.

Nissan Motor is the sixth largest automaker in the world. The company along with its subsidiaries engages in the production and sale of automotive products, industrial machinery and marine equipment, primarily in Japan, North America, and Europe. The company offers passenger cars, trucks, buses, forklifts, light commercial vehicles, power trains and parts, as well as sales financing activities. It competes with Honda Motor Co. (HMC - Analyst Report) and Toyota Motor Corporation (TM - Analyst Report).

Currently, Nissan Motor retains a Zacks #1 Rank, which translates into a short-term (1 to 3 months) Strong Buy rating. We have a long-term (more than 6 months) Outperform recommendation on the stock.