So, raise your hand if you know which brand has the biggest ever car plant in the United Kingdom. Of course, being that this report is about Nissan, it won’t surprise you to learn that it’s the Japanese carmarker, but that doesn’t make the feat any less impressive as we are talking about a foreign manufacturer and not one of the many domestic brands in the long history of the UK auto industry.
Now, Nissan has added another model to its Sunderland Plant, the new generation of the B-segment competing Note, which made its European premiere at the Geneva Motor Show this past March.
Nissan celebrated the start of production of the Note (sold in North America as the 2014 Versa Hatch) in Sunderland today, which was made possible after a £125m (US$199 million / €149 million) investment by Nissan, secured for the UK with a £9.3m (US$14.8 million / €11.1 million)grant from the UK Government’s Regional Growth Fund.
Along with 400 new employees at the vehicle assembly plant, Nissan claims that the addition of the Note is responsible for another 1,600 new jobs in the UK automotive industry, with the company stating that “the number of British jobs supported by Nissan” exceeds 35,000.
“I would like to congratulate all of my colleagues at the plant and in our supply base on the launch of this new model, and once again thank the UK Government for their ongoing support for the automotive industry,” said John Martin, Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management in Europe, during the ceremony at the plant.
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