Nissan will begin Russian production of the new Qashqai in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to a Skrin newswire report. The Qashqai was one the best-selling crossovers in Russia before the current slump in the market, but its sales have suffered as it is imported from the UK. The variants of the Qashqai that will be built at Nissan's St Petersburg plant will be the 1.2-litre 115 bhp and 2.0-litre 144 bhp gasoline (petrol) engines, with the latter version the only one available with four-wheel drive (4WD).
Significance: The St Petersburg plant currently manufactures the second-generation Murano, Teana, Pathfinder and X-Trail. The Qashqai was supposed to be added to the production roster sooner than this, but it appears the decline in the Russian passenger car market, which declined by 37% y/y in the first four month, led to production being deferred, after it was first announced in 2012 that some Qashqai production would be moved from the Sunderland plant to St Petersburg. IHS Automotive anticipates output of this site will reach around 31,000 units during 2015, a fall on past totals, but also a fraction of the 100,000 units per annum (upa) that the factory can now produce, following the investment in expansion that was carried out just before the market began to decline.
