Earlier this 12 months, Nissan confirmed that the successor to the Leaf electrical hatchback, broadly anticipated to be a crossover, will likely be made at its plant in Sunderland, UK.
However Nissan’s next-generation entry-level EV, whose identify hasn’t been confirmed but, might not be the model’s solely all-electric car made within the UK.
Experiences from UK media, together with from Sky Information and Monetary Occasions, declare the Japanese automaker will announce on Friday that the Sunderland plant can even construct electrical successors to the Juke and Qashqai, two of its best-selling fashions in Europe.
Citing “folks briefed on the plans,” FT claims Nissan will announce on November 24 an funding of over 1 billion kilos ($1.25 billion) within the Sunderland plant to construct two new electrical fashions.
In keeping with the report, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is anticipated to go to the manufacturing unit website on Friday for the announcement that will likely be delivered by Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida.
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Sky Information claims Nissan will decide to manufacturing future electrical variations of the Juke and Qashqai at its UK plant following months of talks with the federal government. One of many sources informed the web site that there is a “vital authorities funding assure” hooked up to the plans.
Nonetheless, it is unclear whether or not the UK authorities will provide any taxpayer money up entrance for the challenge.
Nissan already builds gas-powered Juke and Qashqai crossovers in Sunderland and final 12 months additionally started making electrified variants for each fashions on the website—the Qashqai e-Energy and Juke Hybrid.
If the studies are correct, the announcement would safe the way forward for Nissan’s Sunderland plant for a few years to come back. At the moment, the positioning straight employs 6,000 folks and not directly contributes to the existence of hundreds of jobs within the native provide chain.
In 2021, Nissan and its battery companion AESC, owned by China’s Envision, introduced a 1 billion pound funding on the Sunderland website to construct a large-scale battery cell plant that can provide batteries for the Nissan Leaf successor. The Nissan Leaf’s battery pack is presently equipped by AESC.
It is unclear whether or not AESC will enhance funding within the Sunderland battery plant to provide batteries for the longer term electrical Juke and Qashqai as effectively, in line with unnamed sources cited by FT.
Nissan’s manufacturing replace can be the newest in a sequence of constructive information for the UK automotive business, following BMW Group’s plans to take a position 600 million kilos ($750 million) to provide Mini EVs at its Oxford plant, and JLR guardian firm Tata’s July announcement that it’s going to construct a 4 billion pound ($5 billion) battery gigafactory within the UK.