Nissan Motor Co. said it plans to run three daily assembly shifts at U.S. plants building a revamped Altima, as the company tries to challenge Toyota Motor Corp.’s Camry, the top-selling U.S. passenger car.

Production of the 2013 Altima began Tuesday at Nissan’s Smyrna, Tennessee, plant and the car goes on sale late next month. The Yokohama, Japan-based company’s sedan outsold Honda Motor Co.’s Accord in 2011 and takes aim at Camry this year, said Bill Krueger, Nissan’s vice chairman of the Americas.

“We didn’t put all the investment into this product, put in all the features, with an expectation to be No. 2,” Krueger told reporters Tuesday at the Smyrna plant. “Ultimately, the consumer is going to vote with their purchase whether or not we sell more than anyone else.”

Competition among midsize sedans is fierce this year with the Altima coming on the heels of General Motors Co.’s new Chevrolet Malibu, and followed by Honda Motor Co.’s revamped Accord and Ford Motor Co.’s restyled Fusion. Camry, redesigned in 2011, remains the segment’s volume leader, with sales of Hyundai Motor Co.’s Sonata and Volkswagen AG’s new Passat sedan continuing to rise.

Combined sales of those models and Kia Motors Corp.’s fast- selling Optima sedan grew 24 percent this year through April to 674,108, more than double the 10 percent industrywide increase for all cars and light trucks sold in the U.S., according to Autodata Corp. Through April, Camry led Altima, the second-best selling car, by 29,626.

Nissan can build more than 300,000 Altimas a year at Smyrna, and at its Canton, Mississippi, plant, Krueger said. Capacity will grow as a result of running three shifts at both facilities, and may rise to 400,000 units by next year should U.S. demand for Altimas reach that level, he said.

“We’ve figure out a way to do that,” Krueger said in an interview. He declined to give a specific sales or production volume target for the new model.

Toyota, Asia’s largest automaker, already has capacity to produce more than 400,000 Camrys annually at its Georgetown, Kentucky, plant and at Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru factory in Lafayette, Indiana, that builds the model under contract for Toyota.

The 2013 Altima has a $21,500 base price that’s $200 lower than that of the current entry-level car. Altima’s 2.5-liter, 182-horsepower engine gets 61 kilometers per gallon in highway driving, the best in the segment, and 31 mpg in combined city and highway driving, the company said.

Smartphone connectivity and Bluetooth audio functions are standard on all versions of the Altima, the company said. The top-end Altima, with a 270-hp, V-6 engine, will cost $30,080, Nissan said.

Nissan’s North American unit is based in Franklin, Tennessee. 

(Bloomberg)