Nissan to build the Leaf Electric Vehicle

The Sunderland plant will be the third factory to produce the Leaf EV, after Oppama, Japan and Smyrna, Tennessee, USA. Production at the British plant will begin in 2013, a year after the car is launched. The Sunderland factory will be able to produce 50,000 Leaf EVs a year.

"This investment is a fantastic vote of confidence in the Sunderland plant and its excellent workforce," said UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. "The automotive sector is of key importance to the UK. It supports R&D, technological innovation, skills and a supply chain that's a mainstay of the wider manufacturing sector. Today's news from Nissan, with support from government, shows that by working together we can achieve our aim of making the UK a world-leader in ultra-low carbon vehicles."

Nissan has also begun construction of an advance lithium-ion battery plant at Sunderland in April, which will be able to produce 60,000 batteries a year. The batteries will be used for Nissan and Renault electric vehicles, and the factory is set to be completed by 2012.

The Leaf is touted by Nissan as the first mass-produced and affordable family electric car, and will get an official production launch later this year in Japan, the US and Europe. The rest of the world is expected to get the car by 2012