According to Carlos Ghosn, Nissan facilities and employees in Sunderland, Bedfordshire and London will be responsible for design, development, and production of the next generation Nissan Qashqai.
Nissan CEO announced that during a meeting today with Prime Minister David Cameron. For Britain that means 6,000 jobs, both direct and indirect through the UK supply chain, a major endorsement of the quality and calibre of British-made product, and £192 million investment in Britain by Nissan. Each Qashqai produced has 3,779 parts, of which 83.6% come from one of 224 UK suppliers.
Meanwhile Nissan is assured of the high quality of the product that they make at the Sunderland plant, and after all Qashqai is their best-selling model in the UK. Nissan’s Sunderland plant will produce its one millionth Qashqai later this month.
The first stage of development will see the new version of the pioneering crossover styled at Nissan’s European Design Centre in Paddington, London. Once the design is finalised, engineers from the Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield, Bedfordshire will take hold of the project. The completed car will be built in the company’s Sunderland manufacturing facility.
Making the announcement outside 10 Downing Street, Carlos Ghosn said: “The UK has been a cornerstone of Nissan manufacturing since 1986, with the Sunderland plant setting important benchmarks for quality and efficiency in Europe and around the world. It’s the home of the Qashqai, one of Nissan’s biggest product successes. And as Nissan’s leadership in sustainable transportation grows, the plant will become one of the pillars of our zero-emission manufacturing.”
In addition, Nissan is also investing £420m in Sunderland plant for the production of the 100% electric Nissan LEAF from 2013 and in a new stand-alone facility to make lithium-ion batteries for both Renault and Nissan vehicles from 2012.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “This investment from Nissan is fantastic news and a great demonstration of the strength and vitality of the UK car industry. That future manufacturing and R&D has been secured is a tribute to the skill, expertise and hard work of Nissan’s UK workforce. “It is vital that we have a strong manufacturing base to rebalance our economy and secure sustainable economic growth, and it is this Government’s determination that we do all we can to enable businesses to invest, to grow and create jobs.
