trepidation. Ghosn had earned his reputation as
a no-holds-barred cost cutter and his revival plan
called for 21,000 Nissan jobs to be cut.
Most of these were in Japan but the waves were
felt back in Tyne and Wear with the suggestion that
the proposed third-generation Micra would be built
on a shared Renault platform. This of course
could have jeopardised its production at the
UK plant and much speculation was seen in the
press during 1999/2000.
Meanwhile, a survey in 1998 published by the
Economist Intelligence Unit saw the Sunderland
plant judged Europe’s most efficient passenger
car factory, beating Fiat and VW for the top spot
with the BMW/Rover Longbridge operation judged
one of the least efficient. This was an impressive
achievement when the same survey also pointed
out that other UK-based Japanese makers had
seen productivity decline over the same period.
No doubt this helped secure the plant’s future
in the face of Ghosn’s cost-cutting drive and by
early 2001 the announcement had been made
that the Micra (sharing its platform with the
Clio) would indeed be built at Sunderland. The
decision involved reducing costs by importing
a greater number of components from the
Eurozone, resulting in a lower British content
for the car, down to 60 per cent from 72 per
The crossover Qashqai is produced at Washington alongside the smaller Note.The all-electric Leaf has been
produced in the UK at Nissan
Washington since 2012.
40 Classic Car Mart Spring 2016