Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tennessee to start Leaf production by late 2012

No worries Nissan EV fans, more Leaves are on the way -- that's according to Bill Kreuger, the head honcho of Nissan's manufacturing and supply chain division. Kreuger tells Automotive News, the catastrophic earthquake in Japan that shut down several large plants was just a small speedbump in the release of the flagship electric vehicle. Nissan North America has been preparing a 1.6 billion dollar production complex in Smyrna, Tennessee, to begin rolling out EVs in the masses by late 2012. The plan is to have the plant assemble about 200,000 battery modules and as many as 150,000 Leafs each year, and we're guessing it'll have quite an easy go finding names for each and every one.