New Nissan Design Studio Readied

Farmington Hills, Mich. Space Nearly Tripling

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. (June 19, 2004) – Nissan Design America, Inc. is nearing completion of a significant expansion of its automotive design studios in Farmington Hills, Mich., nearly tripling the size and enhancing the capabilities of the facility.

The expansion, which is expected to be completed this fall, will create nearly 51,000 square feet of interior studio space, compared with the current 13,200 square feet. There will be 17,780 square feet of exterior space, including an architecturally unique “egg” for viewing concepts.

“Nissan’s design direction is focused on creating unique, distinctive vehicles, and the expanded structure in Farmington Hills will be unique and distinctive in itself,” said NDA President Tom Semple. “The architect for this project, Luce Design in San Diego, has captured the focus of our automobile design in this new space.”

Originally, the studio located at the Nissan Technical Center North America served as a bridge between the designers at NDA headquarters in San Diego and the research and development engineers working in Michigan.

The expansion of the Farmington Hills studios will allow NDA designers in Michigan to become more involved in exploratory design than they have in the past.

“This is a key element to Nissan’s global expansion program,” Semple said. “As a culture, NDA is intent on design exploration not only in cars, but in everything we do.”

In the past, NDA has created a broad range of designs, including computers, medical equipment, children’s furniture and golf clubs. In January, the Nissan Actic concept car, designed by NDA, was featured at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The expanded Farmington Hills studios adds to the global design capabilities of Nissan, which, in addition to San Diego, has studios in London and Atsugi, Japan, and San Francisco, where, the Nissan 360 program has been held. During the three-week event, close to 500 reporters had the opportunity to drive nearly 70 Nissan and Infiniti vehicles to familiarize themselves with the breadth of Nissan’s global product lineup.

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. More information on Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.infiniti.com.