Nissan set to increase Qashqai production

After a decade of unprecedented customer demand, Nissan has announced its intention to increase Qashqai capacity and further enhance its position as the best-selling crossover in Europe. Nissan still cannot keep pace with the continued growth of the crossover market it created with the Qashqai, despite record volumes of 300,000 cars every year on Line 1 at the company's Sunderland Plant, round-the-clock production and a build rate of one car every minute.

Now Nissan engineers are preparing to uncork supply to its European customers by modifying Line 2 in Sunderland to introduce additional Qashqai production, a further investment of £22 million (S$42.6 million) in the plant. The first additional vehicles are scheduled for production in before the end of 2016, ahead of the next phase in the Qashqai's development in 2017 when it becomes the first Nissan in Europe to feature autonomous 'Piloted Drive' technology.

Nissan currently manufactures the C-segment Qashqai and the all-electric Nissan LEAF, the world's best-selling electric vehicle, on Line 1 in Sunderland, which operates on a three-shift basis. Line 2 production currently includes the Nissan Juke B-segment crossover, Nissan Note and Infiniti Q30 premium compact, and will continue to operate on a two-shift basis.

Through body welding, paint and final assembly, all production areas of Line 2 at Sunderland require modification ahead of the introduction of the Qashqai, after which both production lines will be capable of building vehicles based on the Renault-Nissan Alliance Common Module Family CMF-C architecture. Thanks to Nissan's U.K.-based design and technical centres, vehicles like the Qashqai are designed, engineered and manufactured in the U.K. and exported from Sunderland to over 130 markets.

The Qashqai recently became the highest volume model in the history of Nissan's European manufacturing operations, previously held by another of Nissan's European icons, the Micra supermini. Nissan's Sunderland plant continues to produce around 1,200 Qashqais every day, and by the end of February 2016 the total stood at 2,398,134 units. No other car in the history of the U.K. car industry has gone beyond two million units in such a short period of time.

Globally, the Qashqai is also manufactured in Nissan's plants in St. Petersburg, Russia, and in the Huadu Plant of Dongfeng Nissan in China.