Nissan has announced that it has begun production of its second generation Note at its Sunderland site in the UK. The company said in a statement that manufacture started on Line 2 at the plant yesterday (16 September). The company has invested around GBP125 million (USD199.2 million) to bring the vehicle to the site, including a GBP9.3 million grant from the UK government's Regional Growth Fund (RGF). The investment has also secured around 2,000 jobs in the country, including 400 at the Sunderland site.
Significance: Nissan will be hoping that the launch of this model will help bolster the plant's fortunes going forward. The site has broken records for the number of vehicles it has built during the past few years, helped by the Juke and Qashqai crossovers. The vehicle should get off to a good start, having received 14,000 orders across the European market which the site is serving. IHS Automotive anticipates that production levels will improve over the first generation, with output reaching 70,000 units during 2014, its first full year, and standing at over 60,000 units through the remainder of its life. The site, which had already benefited from the introduction of the LEAF electric vehicle (EV) this year, will also see the launch of the second generation Qashqai in 2014 and the new C-segment Infiniti hatchback during 2015. However, despite this, IHS Automotive does not believe it will be able to maintain the more than 500,000-unit production level last year, but will still remain well over the 400,000-units mark for the next few years.
