FARMINGTON HILLS, MI – Nissan expects to fill 150 new positions this year at its research and development center here outside of Detroit.
Nissan currently employs 1,000 workers at the Farmington Hills tech center, including 800 direct employees and 200 contract workers.
“About a third of those (150 new jobs) are going to be contract conversions,” Carla Bailo, senior vice president-research and development for Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA) says.
Staffing is expected to be up about 10% here by the end of this year.
The additional help is needed, because NTCNA is taking on more work.
“We have a clear intention here and have already begun to expand our role and responsibility,” Bailo says. “With the new battery plant and the production of the Leaf (commencing in Smyrna, TN, later this year), we will be deeply involved in the work on localization of those components.”
Bailo says parts for the U.S.-built Leaf electric vehicle, currently assembled only in Japan, will “come from within the Americas.”
NTCNA also is conducting battery and EV-technology research, some in conjunction with area universities, as it looks for ways to increase driving range.
In addition, the tech center has a 6-person hydrogen fuel-cell operation researching ways to make fuel-cell vehicles marketable.
NTCNA’s roots date back to a minor facility in Plymouth, MI, that began operation in 1988. NTCNA was established at its current location on 55 acres (22 ha) here in 1991.
The Detroit-area R&D center is involved in every model sold in the Americas, even if the vehicle wasn’t designed in the region, Bailo says, including establishing performance targets even for completely built-up units imported to the region.
Recently, NTCNA designed and developed the Nissan NV light-commercial van, Infiniti JX large cross/utility vehicle and the upcoming Altima midsize sedan and Pathfinder CUV, the latter a sibling of the JX.
Nissan announces today that Bob Sump, vice president-components engineering for NTCNA, will retire, replaced by Dana Hargitt, currently director-supplier quality assurance. Hargitt came to Nissan from Toyota in 2010. He will report to Bailo.
Nissan also operates R&D centers in Mexico and Brazil, the latter of which also is adding staff ahead of a new, 200,000-unit vehicle-assembly plant due to open in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
