Member Article

NECC celebrates 25 years of Nissan

“A powerhouse in the region”, were the words used to describe Nissan by the President of the NECC today, as the car manufacturer celebrated its 25thyear of production in the region.

The UK’s largest ever car plant was opened in this day in 1986 by the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Since then, the plant has manufactured more than 6.2 million vehicles, breaking several records in the process.

John Mowbray, President of the NECC, praised Nissan for reinforcing the North East’s reputation as a global centre of excellence for manufacturing.

He commented: “It is rare that you would say a region owes so much to one company, but Nissan’s influence on the economic development of Wearside and its contribution to the wider North East sets it in that league.

“The North East has taken Nissan to its heart and the dedication of the workforce and the wider supply chain has ensured the senior management team in Japan repeatedly support it when awarding contracts for new models.”

Staff at Nissan are now gearing up for production of the new lithium-ion battery plant in early 2012, ahead of Nissan Leaf production in 2013.

John added: “The development of low carbon vehicles is fledgling but will become increasingly important over the coming years.

“Nissan is playing a pivotal role in the North East’s expertise in this exciting new sector which has so much potential to kick our economy on to the next level.”

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