STAFF at Sunderland are rejoicing after producing the one millionth Nissan Qashqai – cementing its position as one of the most successful British-built cars ever.
The landmark vehicle was driven off the production line four years, six months and 23 days after production began on December 5, 2006. No other UK-built car has reached the million mark in such a short space of time.
The silver 2.0-litre diesel TEKNA Qashqai will now go on display at The O2 Arena in London and one lucky person will win the special car.
Today’s production milestone comes just two weeks the news that the next version of the Qashqai will be designed, engineered and built in the UK.
This will take the total Nissan investment in the UK for Qashqai past £422m, and future Qashqai production will safeguard the jobs of 6,000 people at Nissan and in the UK supply chain.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Nissan Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK, said: ‘The Nissan Qashqai has been a phenomenal success since its start of production just four and a half years ago.
‘The Sunderland, Cranfield and Paddington workforce should take great pride in the Qashqai’s popularity’
‘Qashqai was a real crossover pioneer and producing one million in such a short space of time is a fantastic achievement, not just by staff at the Sunderland Plant, but also by the designers and engineers who developed such a popular car and our dealer network who have helped to generate such high demand.’
UK Business Minister Mark Prisk said: ‘The Qashqai is a success story for both Nissan and the UK. With the millionth car coming off the production line, the Sunderland, Cranfield and Paddington workforce should take great pride in its popularity.
‘It’s great news that they will be able to build on their success with the recent announcement that the UK has been chosen to design, engineer and build the new Qashqai model.’
Paul Everitt, Chief Executive of the SMMT, said: ‘The UK is home to some of the world’s most productive automotive facilities making cars that are in demand across the globe. Landmarks such as today’s announcement from Nissan serve to reinforce this, demonstrating the importance of manufacturing to our economy and its contribution to an export-led recovery.’
Details of the competition to win the millionth Qashqai will be announced soon.
Record facts….
On average, 1,200 Qashqais per day are produced at the plant, or one every minute that the production line is working.
More than 80 per cent of Qashqai production is exported to 97 markets worldwide from the Port of Tyne.
The Qashqai is firmly established as one of the UK’s Top 10 best-selling cars, and was the fourth best-selling model in the C-segment across Europe in the 2010 Fiscal Year. Its top five markets were the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain and France.
Only the Nissan Micra (2.3 million units produced from 1992-2010) and the Nissan Primera (1.4 million units produced from 1990-2007) have passed the million production mark at Nissan Sunderland Plant.