Royal Nissan

Nissan was planning on producing the popular electric LEAF in the U.S. starting as early as December 2012.  Manufacturing of the vehicles battery was to start in the U.S. in September 2012.  Although this is a significant amount of time from now the March 11 earthquake that devastated areas of Japan affected Nissan more than anyone originally thought.

"On March 11 every operation stopped, so all the resources that were in place [to begin manufacturing the LEAF in the U.S.] were used to restore Japan," shares Hideaki Watanabe, Head, Global Zero Emission Vehicle Business Unit, Nissan. "All…

Given how fast 'breaking' stories emerge...current events quickly become distant memories. There is some danger in this. For while the March 11 earthquake and tsunami seem to have been pushed into the shadows, the recovery effort is very much still a current event. The reality is: It will take months and months before things begin to resume some semblance of normalcy in Japan... if not years.

In seeing how ill-prepared the country was for such a high magnitude earthquake, Nissan Motor Co. is already taking precautionary measures to help protect its employees, products, and buildings from equally severe future…