NISSAN has announced a £37m investment in its record-breaking Sunderland plant that will enable it to make even more cars.  

Comment: A welcome investment in North-East quality

The Japanese car maker, which produces more than 500,000 vehicles a year at its North-East site, has started to extend the plant and install a new 5,200 tonne press to support production of the best-selling Qashqai and Juke models, as well as the Nissan Note and the all-electric Leaf hatchback.

To be built alongside the existing seven press lines in Sunderland, the new line will be the biggest at Sunderland and the first of its type in the Renault-Nissan alliance, pressing panels with a total force of 5,200 tonnes.

The expansion will take Nissan’s regional workforce to nearly 6,800, and mean it supports about 28,000 jobs in the supply chain.

The Northern Echo:
Kevin Fitzpatrick (Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK), Cllr Paul Watson (Leader of Sunderland City Council) and Colin Lawther (Nissan's Senior Vice President for Manufacturing Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in Europe) take a look at the work in progress

Going into production in 2017, the new press line and panel storage area requires a building extension totaling 6,780 square metres, taking the total built up space on site over 362,000 square metres, the equivalent of more than 50 football pitches.

Colin Lawther, Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in Europe, said: “Nearly three million customers have bought a Nissan crossover that was manufactured here in the UK, and the 33,000 Nissan LEAFs made here have helped it to become the best-selling electric vehicle in history.

“This fresh investment is a clear signal of our intent to continue leading in these key areas for the Nissan brand, with our crossover and electric vehicle success founded on the exceptional quality and delivery standards achieved by our workforce here in Sunderland.”

Weighing about 2500 tonnes and 10.5m in height, a programme of engineering work is now under way ahead of the scheduled start of production in 2017, with a 6.5m deep ‘pit’ currently being excavated for the foundations.

The new press line will make larger panels for all the Nissan vehicles produced in Sunderland, and will also provide panels for two forthcoming Infiniti models, the Infiniti Q30 and Infiniti QX30. Last year, Nissan confirmed it would need an additional 300 new staff to support production of Infiniti which is Nissan's sister brand. 

Nissan has the capacity to make up to 60,000 Infiniti cars in the North-East per year. About half of them will be exported to Europe when production starts later this year.