LakeLeaf
Well-known member
We know that Leafs are being manufactured at Nissan's Oppama plant.
This plant is on the east coast of Japan
From the pictures you can see a large parking lot where the cars will likely be staged before shipping. There is a nice test track there too.
I believe there are three Nissan manufacturing sites in Japan. The Oppama seems to make other vehicles too. I've come across a reference to it making the AWD Juke.
It's hard to tell if the cars will be shipped from this location, but it seems logical. You can see ships in the Google maps picture - one is in a dry dock, so don't know if the others are in that same location for receiving cargo or for maintenance. Nearer to the parking lot there is a good sized ship with a green deck. This areas seems like a good area to load from, but I don't see any cranes, ramps, or pavement markings indicating specific loading locations.
This looks like the parking lot and a ship.
From about 5 years ago:
The 5.6 million square foot plant located 31 miles southwest of Tokyo assembles the all new March and Cube Cubic...
The Oppama Plant (the company's first full-scale integrated vehicle assembly plant) has played a role in Nissan's revival. "Everyone must have the same consciousness to meet the target," one plant official said. "This is the difference. Everyone is working together for one goal, which increases their confidence."
Opened in 1961, the plant is capable of producing 440,000 units per year. According to plant officials, Oppama currently produces about one car per minute from its two assembly lines. In addition to producing the March and Cube Cubic, the plant produces the Fairlady Z, the Cube and the Maxima QX (known as the Infiniti 135 in the North American market). The exact mix of vehicles is determined four days in advance and is based on sales projections and dealer requests.
From what I can tell from ship tracking threads in PriusChat - it takes 9-10 days to reach the west coast from Japan, another 9-10 days to reach the east coast.
It's too bad we don't have bunch of Japanese posters on here to help gather some information, but maybe we can put together enough to track things ourselves.
Questions to Google in your spare time:
What are the names of the ships that Nissan uses to ship any products they make in Japan to the US?
Is Nissan contracting with new ships for the Leaf, or using existing contracts? It looks like this plant makes other Nissan products, so likely they will just ship the Leafs with those other cars. Besides the AWD Juke - what else is currently being made in Oppama.
How many cars fit on each of the contracted ships? (will vary by ship)
What ports will Nissan deliver the Leaf's to? (Let's assume they are using the same ports and terminals for the Leafs that Nissan uses for other products - where are those vehicles delivered today?)
San Diego?
San Francisco?
Portland?
For those who have developed a good relationship with your dealer - maybe you can ask them what vehicles they get from Japan - Oppama in particular if they know that, what port those products come into for that particular dealer, time from port to dealer, and even see if the dealer can come up with some of the names of the ships as they are usually in the dealers paperwork. It's likely Nissan will just put the Leafs on the same ships as other cars from this plant, so we may be able to find out the names of all of the ships used by talking to the dealers.
Once we get a good guess what ships are going to be used we can use some of the ship tracking websites to follow their progress. The dealers seem to have access to information about what ship your car will be on, so sometime after you order, the dealer will get notification of manufacture and then notification of shipment with the shipping information. You'll then be able to track your car from Japan.
It's possible that this area has some public webcams on the Internet. If it does, and if we can find them, we might be able to see the parking lot start to fill with Leafs.
So - there's the challenge! Can we find out enough to track deliveries, and maybe even see the Leafs as the come off the line?
This plant is on the east coast of Japan
From the pictures you can see a large parking lot where the cars will likely be staged before shipping. There is a nice test track there too.
I believe there are three Nissan manufacturing sites in Japan. The Oppama seems to make other vehicles too. I've come across a reference to it making the AWD Juke.
It's hard to tell if the cars will be shipped from this location, but it seems logical. You can see ships in the Google maps picture - one is in a dry dock, so don't know if the others are in that same location for receiving cargo or for maintenance. Nearer to the parking lot there is a good sized ship with a green deck. This areas seems like a good area to load from, but I don't see any cranes, ramps, or pavement markings indicating specific loading locations.
This looks like the parking lot and a ship.
From about 5 years ago:
The 5.6 million square foot plant located 31 miles southwest of Tokyo assembles the all new March and Cube Cubic...
The Oppama Plant (the company's first full-scale integrated vehicle assembly plant) has played a role in Nissan's revival. "Everyone must have the same consciousness to meet the target," one plant official said. "This is the difference. Everyone is working together for one goal, which increases their confidence."
Opened in 1961, the plant is capable of producing 440,000 units per year. According to plant officials, Oppama currently produces about one car per minute from its two assembly lines. In addition to producing the March and Cube Cubic, the plant produces the Fairlady Z, the Cube and the Maxima QX (known as the Infiniti 135 in the North American market). The exact mix of vehicles is determined four days in advance and is based on sales projections and dealer requests.
From what I can tell from ship tracking threads in PriusChat - it takes 9-10 days to reach the west coast from Japan, another 9-10 days to reach the east coast.
It's too bad we don't have bunch of Japanese posters on here to help gather some information, but maybe we can put together enough to track things ourselves.
Questions to Google in your spare time:
What are the names of the ships that Nissan uses to ship any products they make in Japan to the US?
Is Nissan contracting with new ships for the Leaf, or using existing contracts? It looks like this plant makes other Nissan products, so likely they will just ship the Leafs with those other cars. Besides the AWD Juke - what else is currently being made in Oppama.
How many cars fit on each of the contracted ships? (will vary by ship)
What ports will Nissan deliver the Leaf's to? (Let's assume they are using the same ports and terminals for the Leafs that Nissan uses for other products - where are those vehicles delivered today?)
San Diego?
San Francisco?
Portland?
For those who have developed a good relationship with your dealer - maybe you can ask them what vehicles they get from Japan - Oppama in particular if they know that, what port those products come into for that particular dealer, time from port to dealer, and even see if the dealer can come up with some of the names of the ships as they are usually in the dealers paperwork. It's likely Nissan will just put the Leafs on the same ships as other cars from this plant, so we may be able to find out the names of all of the ships used by talking to the dealers.
Once we get a good guess what ships are going to be used we can use some of the ship tracking websites to follow their progress. The dealers seem to have access to information about what ship your car will be on, so sometime after you order, the dealer will get notification of manufacture and then notification of shipment with the shipping information. You'll then be able to track your car from Japan.
It's possible that this area has some public webcams on the Internet. If it does, and if we can find them, we might be able to see the parking lot start to fill with Leafs.
So - there's the challenge! Can we find out enough to track deliveries, and maybe even see the Leafs as the come off the line?
