---

Nissan Honor Scholarship Winners at Smyrna Facility

25 August 1998

Governor Sundquist, Nissan Honor Scholarship Winners at Smyrna Facility

        Governor Sundquist Lends Support to New Educational Initiative

    NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 25 -- The recipients of the Nissan
Neighbors Good Citizens Scholarship and their parents were honored today by
Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist and Jerry Benefield, CEO and president of Nissan
Motor Manufacturing Corporation U.S.A., during an event at the company's
Smyrna production facility.
    Fifty 1998 Tennessee high school graduates each received $1,000
scholarships from Nissan this year.  The newly formed good-citizen program
awards scholarships to above-average students who have demonstrated
significant commitment to their communities and schools.
    "This program embodies Nissan's philosophy of investing in the communities
in which we operate," Benefield said. "Nissan's commitment to Tennessee is
about more than creating jobs and investing capital; it's about investing in
people.  I can't think of a better way to demonstrate this commitment than
rewarding these gifted students."
    Working with Sundquist and Jane Walters, Tennessee's Commissioner of
Education, Nissan developed the concept to help the leaders of tomorrow get
their start today.  The program's criteria require applicants to rank in the
top third of their class and achieve a combined SAT score above 850 or a
composite ACT score of 18 or above.  In addition, the award winners embody
personal characteristics such as leadership, respect, responsibility and
kindness.
    "I believe this program serves as a reward and provides incentives to
students who go the extra mile outside of the classroom to be good citizens in
the community," Sundquist said. "These students represent the leaders of
tomorrow in communities throughout Tennessee and I applaud Nissan for
initiating this program."
    Nissan's presence in Tennessee has grown since it first established its
manufacturing facility in 1983.  Nissan directly employs 6,300 people at its
plants in Smyrna and Decherd. The Smyrna plant has been selected as the most
productive automobile manufacturing facility in North America for the past
five years by the Harbour Report -- the benchmarking tool for measuring
productivity in North America's auto industry, released by Harbour &
Associates, Inc.
    The scholarship program is part of Nissan Neighbors, a corporate-wide
umbrella for all of Nissan's philanthropic giving, which includes various
sponsorships, in-kind donations, and other charitable activities focused on
helping meet the needs of communities throughout the United States.
    Nissan employs 73,000 Americans (12,000 directly and 61,000 at Nissan and
Infiniti dealerships nationwide) and has invested more than $2 billion in the
United States to build facilities for design, research and development,
manufacturing, sales and related operations.  Nearly 70 percent of the Nissan
trucks and cars sold in America are built in America, mostly in Tennessee.
Additionally, Nissan purchases more than $4.2 billion in parts and materials
each year from U.S. suppliers, including $1 billion from suppliers located in
Tennessee.