S&P Afms 2 Rtgs on Nissan Auto Lease Tr 2002-A, OfWtch

NEW YORK--Aug. 11, 2003--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services today affirmed its ratings on Nissan Auto Lease Trust 2002-A's class A-3a and class A-3b notes and certificates, and removed them from CreditWatch negative, where they were placed May 1, 20032, 2003 (see list).

The affirmed ratings reflect the information provided by Nissan North America Inc. (Nissan) and the current funding status and size of its pension plan.

The ratings on Nissan's auto lease ABS transactions, as well as those of other issuers, were placed on CreditWatch pending further review of updated pension fund-related information from the related plan sponsors. Following the CreditWatch placements, Nissan provided Standard & Poor's a preliminary Form 5500 tax filing that it intends to file with the Internal Revenue Service within the next several weeks. The tax filing contains pension plan asset and plan liability information as of April 1, 2002. In an effort to provide more recent pension plan information, Nissan has also provided Standard & Poor's with pension plan assets and liability information as of April 1, 2003 and Jan. 1, 2003 in regard to its U.S. manufacturing and non-manufacturing defined benefit plans, respectively.

In addition, Nissan has provided Standard & Poor's a supplemental current pension liability calculation as of April 1, 2003. The supplemental current pension liability is derived by discounting the pension plan benefits by a conservative interest rate published by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC). Based on the information received, Standard & Poor's has determined that the PBGC lien risk associated with Nissan Auto Lease Trust 2002-A is currently not of a sufficient magnitude (relative to the credit enhancement supporting its class A-3a and class A-3b notes) to warrant lowered ratings on the above referenced notes. However, a material deterioration in Nissan's funding status during the term of the transaction could impact the ratings on the above referenced notes. Standard & Poor's estimates that the pension plan assets would have to decline approximately 15% to 20% during the next year before the increased PBGC lien risk to the class A-3a and class A-3b notes would become a meaningful factor in the rating. This estimate assumes a 5% increase in plan benefits during 2003 and no change in interest rates.

RATINGS AFFIRMED AND REMOVED FROM CREDITWATCH NEGATIVE

Nissan Auto Lease Trust 2002-A
Asset-backed notes and certificates

              Rating
Class     To          From
A-3a      AAA         AAA/Watch Neg
A-3b      AAA         AAA/Watch Neg