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Nissan to build electric cars in Sunderland

Car giant Nissan has announced that it will start building its Leaf electric car at its Wearside plant from early 2013, saving more than 2,000 jobs.

The factory in Sunderland, which will also manufacture the vehicle’s lithium-ion batteries, will be the third earmarked to produce the zero-emission cars after plants in Oppama, Japan and the US state of Tennessee.

The investment of more than £420m will help maintain about 2,250 jobs at Nissan and across its British supply chain, the company said in a statement.

Initial output will be about 50,000 vehicles a year from early 2013. The Leaf is due to go on sale worldwide this year with production beginning in Japan, while the US factory will start in 2012.

“The three production sites will support the sales launch of the model, which begins in late 2010 in Japan, the United States and selected European markets, ahead of global mass marketing from 2012,? the company said.

Nissan said construction of its battery plant at Sunderland will begin next month. With a capacity of 60,000 units a year, it will start making batteries in 2012 for both Nissan and its alliance partner Renault.

The investment will reportedly be supported by a £20.7m grant from the British government and a proposed finance package from the European Investment Bank of up to 220 million euros, it said.

Margaret Fay, Chairman of One North East, said: “Today’s announcement comes almost a year to the day since Nissan and One North East signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the development of zero-emission mobility.

“Twelve months on, we have reached a position where this partnership has elevated the North East of England, and the UK, to the world-leading position we now enjoy in the low carbon vehicle industry. The support that we have received from the Government in that time has been critical to our joint success.

Rt Hon Nick Brown MP, Minister for the North East, said: “Winning the battery factory for Sunderland was a great achievement. We have now built on this by today’s truly exciting announcement.

“It means hundreds of new jobs, underpins the existing jobs at both the battery factory and car plant, and gives us a brand new product which I’m sure will be a world leader. This is tremendous news for Sunderland, East Durham and the North East of England.?

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .