Nissan confirms £3bn investment in Sunderland

11/24/2023

EV36Zero expansion will see all-electric Qashqai, Juke and Leaf made in the north east

By Matt Bird / Friday, 24 November 2023 / Loading comments

As part of its EV36Zero plan, Nissan has confirmed that all three of its cars currently made at the Sunderland facility – Juke, Qashqai and Leaf – will also be assembled there as electric cars. Obviously, the Leaf is already battery-powered, but the announcement of an upcoming Juke and Qashqai EV is pretty significant. Especially as it means up to £3bn of investment (an additional £2bn on top of the initial billion) to get the required gigafactories up and running.

EV36Zero is more than just a product plan, too, as it intends to turn the Sunderland factory into a ‘world-first EV manufacturing ecosystem’. That means working with the Microgrid project initiated by Sunderland City Council, aiming to supply both Nissan and its suppliers with completely renewable energy through the wind and the sun, including a new 20MW solar farm. Nissan suggests EV36Zero is a ‘key part’ of Nissan Ambition 2030, which has the ultimate aim of being carbon neutral across the lifecycle of products by 2050.

Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said: “Exciting, electric vehicles are at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality. With electric versions of our core European models on the way, we are accelerating towards a new era for Nissan, for industry and for our customers.

“The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain’s biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe.”

All very good, very worthy and great news for anyone working there. The cars ought to be interesting, too, inspired as they are by recent Nissan concepts. The next-generation Juke, Leaf and Qashqai are hugely important models; Nissan has sold more than a million Jukes, more than 250,000 Leafs have been built in Sunderland, and 20 per cent of all cars built in the UK are Qashqais. You read that right. Their replacements are going to be inspired by the Hyper Urban and Hyper Punk concepts recently seen at Tokyo, plus the Chill-Out Concept seen in 2021. Given their respective press releases spoke of being ‘inspired by kaleidoscopic triangles’, ‘channelling self-expression through connectivity’ and ‘a new way to think about mobility’, it would seem like big change is on the horizon for Nissan’s core models. We’re told to expect names, specs and launch dates ‘at a later time’.

Plenty to look forward to, then, and a big day for Nissan’s 7,000 employees in the UK. When the future of manufacturing here can seem a little uncertain, it’s hugely reassuring to have such a substantial investment from a brand like Nissan – even with undisclosed assistance from the taxpayer. Just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Sunderland facility next year, too.

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Nissan confirms £3bn investment in Sunderland

EV36Zero expansion will see all-electric Qashqai, Juke and Leaf made in the north east

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