Beaten, for the second consecutive year, by Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover’s UK output of 544,401 vehicles, Nissan, marking its 30th anniversary of UK manufacturing in 2016, with 507,430, is claiming “the largest British car plant in history” and promising further “major investments” for further growth.
Last year’s tally was the second highest history of the plant which started off in 1986 making a Bluebird-badged version of the Stanza for UK and European sale. It went on to build the second and third generation Micra (March), Almera, Primera and Note before beginning production, in 2007, of the Qashqai which effectively introduced many markets to the affordable C-segment SUV and has been a smash hit. The plant also makes the Leaf EV and its battery packs.
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“Highlights [of 2016] included record volumes of the all-electric Leaf and the second generation Qashqai, with the original crossover now made on both production lines for the first time,” Nissan Motor Manufactiring UK (NMMUK) said in a statement.
Total output from the plant is now approaching 9m. Future plans include a “refreshed” [mid life update] Qashqai and the introduction of autonomous drive technology.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, who heads Nissan’s European manufacturing, said: “Since the birth of our factory three decades ago, north east England has become one of the major international automotive centres. Britain is now home to [our] best-selling and most technologically-advanced models in Europe, covering our market-leading crossover range, the world’s best-selling electric vehicle and two premium models for global export.
“This has been achieved through hard work, innovative thinking, ingenuity and strong partnerships with forward-thinking local companies. With future models secured and new facilities in development, congratulations to all of my colleagues in Sunderland and across the UK on another great year.”
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By GlobalDataSunderland also now builds vehicles for Nissan’s premium global brand Infiniti. Q30 production began late in 2015 followed by the QX30 variant in 2016 – the first time Sunderland has exported to the US and China.
Nissan said other 2016 highlights included the installation of 19,000 new solar panels alongside the plant’s existing 10 wind turbines, taking the contribution of renewables to 7% of the plant’s total electricity requirements.
New facilities under development include a GBP37m (US$46m) extra large press line, due to start production in weeks. Other investment announced in 2016 includes the GBP22m Qashqai capacity expansion and GBP26.5m in manufacturing a new generation of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in the UK.
GBP650m ongoing investment in new facilities and future models in Sunderland will take the total capital investment by Nissan in the plant since it opened to beyond GBP4bn.
The automaker’s continuing investment in the UK has been supported by several previously announced government grants for innovation and energy efficiency projects, including future-generation EV batteries (GBP7.1m).
Employment in the UK design studio (Paddington, London), technical centre (Cranfield, Bedfordshire), manufacturing plant (Sunderland, Tyne and Wear) and sales and marketing operations (Maple Cross, Hertfordshire) now totals more than 8,000. A further 28,000 jobs in Nissan’s UK supply chain and 4,000 in its UK dealer network takes the total British jobs supported by Nissan to more than 40,000.
New models on the horizon for Sunderland include three next-generation crossover models including Juke and Qashqai plus the X-Trail which is currently imported from Japan.
