(March 20, 2018) CANTON, Miss. — Nissan North America on Monday celebrated production of 4 million vehicles at its Canton assembly plant, and announced the addition of a second shift that will create or retain 250 hourly jobs to support increasing demand for NV Commercial Vans.

The announcement came as the plant approaches the 15th anniversary of bringing vehicle manufacturing to Mississippi.

To commemorate the celebration, Nissan presented the vehicle — a 2018 NV Cargo — to Our Daily Bread Ministries, a local nonprofit organization with a mission to bring awareness to healthy eating and aid in hunger relief in the community.

"Adding a second shift for NV Van production underscores our employees' hard work and dedication to building world class, quality vehicles for our customers," said Steve Marsh, vice president, Manufacturing, Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant. "Supporting community organizations like Our Daily Bread Ministries is extremely important to Nissan and our investment in Central Mississippi, and we are delighted to include this donation in the celebration of our 4 millionth vehicle."

Nissan has grown the Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant from a regional manufacturing facility to a global one, investing $3.4 billion in the facility since its opening in 2003. Nissan employs 6,400 at the Canton plant, with more than 1,500 jobs added since 2013. With an annual capacity of 450,000 vehicles, the plant currently builds the Nissan Altima, Murano, TITAN and TITAN XD, Frontier, NV Cargo Van and NV Passenger Van.

For 2018, both the NV Cargo and NV Passenger are available with a 375-horsepower 5.6-liter Endurance V8 gasoline engine with a heavy-duty 7-speed automatic transmission. Both models are also offered with a fuel-efficient 261-horsepower 4.0-liter V6 with 5-speed automatic transmission.