New Qashqai to be produced in Britain

The Prime Minister David Cameron and the President and CEO of Nissan Motor Company Carlos Ghosn have announced that Britain will design, engineer and build the next generation of the Nissan Qashqai. This will safeguard 6,000 jobs, both directly and through its supply chain and represents a £192 million investment by Nissan.

It will aim to build on the success of the current Qashqai which is the highest-volume car produced in the UK with export levels of around 80 percent.

The first stage will see the car designed at Nissan’s European Design Centre in Paddington, London before engineers take over the project. Finally, the completed car will be assembled at Nissan’s Sunderland manufacturing plant.

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 will also invest £420 million in the Sunderland plant for the production of the Nissan LEAF from 2013. A new stand-alone facility will make lithium-ion batteries for Renault and Nissan from 2012.

The current Qashqai was launched in December 2006 and has been Nissan’s most successful product to date. It sits in the UK top 10 best sellers list and the plant currently produces 1200 Qashqai’s per day to meet global demand.