Nissan North America has expanded production of its NV cargo and passenger vans by adding a second shift to its Canton, Ohio, assembly plant, where Nissan recently celebrated production of 4 million vehicles.

The second shift 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.

For 2018, the NV Cargo and NV Passenger are available with a 375-hp 5.6L Endurance V-8 gasoline engine with a heavy-duty 7-speed automatic transmission. Both models are also offered with a fuel-efficient 261-hp 4.0L V-6 with 5-speed automatic transmission.

To commemorate the celebration, Nissan presented a 2018 NV Cargo van 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.

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.

"The City of Canton congratulates Nissan on this outstanding achievement," said Dr. William Truly, mayor of the City of Canton. "Milestones like these are not easily achieved, and we applaud the hardworking men and women of this facility who build great vehicles for the citizens of Canton and customers around the world."