British car factories: Nissan
Nissan now builds the luxury Infinity at Washington and exports this upmarket model all over the world.
Complex sub-assemblies contain a large number
components manufactured on-site at Washington.
Recent developments have included a high-tech battery production facility for electric models.
cent, but on the plus side production was to be
increased to the point where the Sunderland
operation would become the biggest car factory
in the UK. Intensive lobbying had also resulted
in a £40m government grant to keep the work
in the UK in the face of the Ghosn’s claims that
operating outside the Eurozone was a risk.
The new Millennium also saw the Sunderland
plant secure production of the Almera, possibly
one of the era’s most underwhelming cars but a
significant seller nonetheless.
A further vote of confidence came with the
addition of the Nissan Note hatchback in 2004,
the UK operation once again being the sole plant
outside Japan to produce the car. We may be
long out of the era which could be considered as
part of the classic car scene but 2006 Nissan
Washington was awarded production of Nissan’s
success stories in the shape of the Qashqai, the
compact crossover which has proved to be a
massive seller for the firm.
The Qashqai represented more than just a
big-selling modern hatchback though, since in
March 2007 a batch of 20,000 was loaded on to
a container ship heading for Japan. Primeras had
been exported to Japan in the late ’90s but the
Qashqai was sent in big numbers and indeed the
plant still exports cars back to Japan.
In 2012 production of the all-electric Leaf
began at Nissan Washington and in 2015 the
plant became the sole location for production of
the Q30 for Nissan’s upmarket Infiniti brand.
It all translates to a figure of 475,000 vehicles
produced by the Sunderland plant in 2015, of
which an impressive 80 per cent were exported.
To put it in perspective, that’s on a par with the
best ever achieved by the whole of the BMC
combine. CCM
Classic Car Mart Spring 2016 41