Nissan has started manufacturing the all-new 2015 Murano crossover at its Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant in Mississippi, United States.

The first 2015 Nissan Murano rolled off the assembly line, marking the first time the model has been produced in the U.S. The Canton plant is Nissan’s worldwide hub for Murano production and will export it to more than 100 markets.

The move is part of Nissan’s strategy to build where it sells and it moves the company closer to achieving its goal of having 85 percent of the vehicles sold in the U.S. produced in North America by 2015.

The 2015 Murano is the eighth model currently built at the Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant and will be assembled on the same line as Xterra, Frontier, Titan and Armada. To support Murano production, Nissan added 1,300 jobs to Canton, including nearly 400 supplier jobs.

Since its opening in 2003, Nissan has invested nearly $2.8 billion in the plant and with the addition of the new jobs, the facility has grown to support more than 6,000 manufacturing jobs.

The 2015 Nissan Murano is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, with power coming from a 260hp 3.5-liter V6 gasoline engine mated to an Xtronic transmission. The crossover will go on sale in the U.S. towards the end of this year, with pricing to be announced closer to launch.

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