OREANDA-NEWS. April 23, 2015. The U.S. automotive industry is vibrant in the south, with a steady drumbeat of growth being contributed from Nissan North America.

Just over a month since announcing a new supplier park at its Smyrna, Tenn. manufacturing facility, that plant today begins production on the all-new, eighth-generation Maxima sedan.

"The human story of Nissan is that it took Tennessee, which had virtually no auto jobs and low family incomes, and gave us a state that has about one-third of our manufacturing auto jobs…and family incomes are way up," said U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

Nissan's Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant began operations in 1983. Three decades later in 2014, this plant assembled more than 648,000 vehicles in a year, making it the highest producing automotive assembly plant in North America. The Maxima is one of six models now produced in the Smyrna facility.

"Today is a great day for the plant," said John Martin, senior vice president, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management and Purchasing, Nissan North America, Inc. "It's a culmination of a lot of hard work by an awful lot of people in Japan, in Farmington Hills at our R&D center, with our suppliers and, above all, with the team here."

Nissan's Smyrna Vehicle Assembly Plant is the top producing automotive plant in North America, employing more than 8,400 people. Today, employees celebrated the start of production for the new Maxima, which is just part of the story for Nissan in 2015. Later this year, Nissan says to expect new versions of the Altima, Sentra and TITAN truck.

"I have been here for 30 years and I have seen all three gen Maximas launched here, and this one, right here, is going to raise the bar for us," said Ivan Kelso, Nissan Smyrna.

The eighth generation of Nissan's iconic "4-Door Sports Car" combines 300-horsepower performance with a bold exterior design, a premium interior cockpit and an extensive range of safety, security and driving aids including Predictive Forward Collision Warning, Forward Emergency Braking, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Blind Spot Warning.

"Ever since I moved to Tennessee, I always told myself that if I ever had the opportunity to work at Nissan I would never leave and have been a big fan since," said Dan Mantor, Nissan Smyrna. "Ever since I started driving, I have always had Nissan 240Zs and I have always been a big fan. I decided one day I was finally going to do it and I ended up getting a tattoo. I am just a big fan and it shows my passion to be here."

The new Maxima, assembled in Middle Tenn., will be at U.S. Nissan dealerships this summer.