The new small car which Nissan Motor will start building at its Sunderland factory next year will be based on the ’emerging markets’ architecture of the Micra – Indian-built for Europe – rather than the more sophisticated platform of the English-made Juke, executive vice-president Andy Palmer revealed at the Geneva show.
It will be very similar to the Invitaton concept introduced at Geneva and, when Nissan announced it would be made at Sunderland, it was widely assumed it would share as much as possible with the Juke to simplify the production process.
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But it will use instead Nissan’s V platform which currently underpins the Micra, a car made also in Thailand and Mexico and aimed primarily at Asian and South American markets.
However, Palmer admits there are “things we will have to do” to make the car drive in a way Europeans will find acceptable.
“We are going to pitch it straight at the Fiesta, so we will have work to do to make it a credible alternative,” he said. “I am fanatical about ride and handling and we will tune this for European conditions, and most specifically for UK conditions.”
The Invitation – if that’s what the production version is called – will join the mid-sized Qashqai and the Juke on the Sunderland production lines, with the electric Leaf also due to be made there – along with its battery pack – from 2013.
“It’s the best plant in the world. For output per man it is extremely efficient, it produces cars of extremely high quality and it has a winning position for the supply chain within western Europe,” said Palmer.
The Sunderland plant is celebrating 25 years in operation and has so far received GBP9.3m in UK government grants.
“Car-makers create lot of jobs directly and indirectly and NMUK stands on its own merits in competition with any other plant,” said Palmer.
