After almost 18 years and two model generations, Nissan’s Sunderland plant in northeast England will tonight (Friday, 16 July 2010) build its last Micra. Between 10 August 1992 and today the plant has built close to 2.4m units.
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Micra (the model is known as the March in Japan) production has been reassigned from Japan and the UK to Nissan factories in four new countries – India, Thailand, China and Mexico. Production has already started in India and in Thailand. Significant exports are planned from India (around 100 countries including Europe from September, the Middle-East and Africa) and Thailand in particular. The model, imported from Thailand, was launched in Japan this week.
In place of the B segment supermini, Sunderland will build the new upper B segment Juke on the former Micra line, shared with the Note MPV, from mid-August. The plant’s other line builds the recently updated upper C segment Qashqai crossover which shares its platform with the larger US market Rogue.
Nissan said the Micra had “attained iconic status at the plant where it has been produced for almost two decades”.
Nissan’s UK plant opened in 1986 and, following the usual Japanese process for inaugurating a new ‘transplant’, first built a tried and tested model – the Bluebird (Auster in Japan; Stanza in the US). The Bluebird was later replaced by the Primera and the smaller Micra went into production in August 1992. It was widely exported, mainly in left hand drive form to Europe, but some first generation cars were shipped as far as Australia.
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By GlobalData“[The Micra’s] arrival signalled the construction of an entirely new production line transforming Sunderland into a multi-model, high volume facility,” Nissan said.
In 1993 that original ‘K11’ series Micra became the first Japanese car to win the European Car of the Year award.
Sunderland went on to produce nearly 1.4m K11s over the next decade. Unusually, in an era of four or five year Japanese model cycles, it was not replaced by the redesigned K12 until 2002.
Sunderland produced over 100,000 units of the new car in the first six months of production – its fastest new model rate to date.
It went on to make almost 1m in eight years of production including the plant’s first ‘open top’ car – the 2005 C+C (Coupe + Convertible).
C+C’s fully automated roof was fitted on a dedicated sub assembly line for the four years it was in production during which the plant manufactured more than 31,000 units.
Sunderland has made 2,368,704 Micras since 1992, or over 40% of all cars built at the plant since production began in 1986.
Nissan Manufacturing UK chief Kevin Fitzpatrick said: “I think everyone will be sorry to see the last Micra come off the line. When you produce a model for as long as we have produced Micra, it almost becomes part of your plant’s identity.
“There is no doubt that Micra has been a tremendous success for us and a production run of well over 2m units is astounding, but like all plants we are constantly changing and updating our model mix.
“Micra’s departure frees up capacity on our lines meaning we can now look forward to producing the Juke in August.
“Although Micra is a tough act to follow, Juke is a very exciting prospect. By combining the best attributes from a compact SUV and a sports car, it will inject something truly original into the small car segment.”
Production supervisor Keith Watson worked on the very first Micra produced in Sunderland in 1992. He said: “It’s sad to see Micra production end in Sunderland, but we have a fantastic product replacing it in Juke. It’s quite an achievement for the plant to think there are well over 2m Sunderland-built Micras out there.”
