Infiniti has announced that it has begun production of its new Q30 premium compact at Nissan's production site in Sunderland (United Kingdom). According to the statement, this follows a GBP250-million (USD375.7-million) investment in a new 25,000-square-metre facility at the site, including a new body shop with 134 robots. It has also created 300 new jobs that include "a select group of newly-appointed master craftspeople" which ensure the quality of this model.
Significance: The Q30 compact is the first Infiniti to be built in Europe and has been developed with capturing a wider and younger audience than its current range of vehicles. The vehicle is underpinned by Daimler's front-wheel drive MFA platform and is part of the brand's efforts to lift its global sales further, and particularly helping its performance in Europe, where it has typically been weak. It remains to be seen what sort of positive impact this will make in the premium category which is dominated by the Audi A3, BMW 1-Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Thanks to production from this site also being sent to the United States and China, IHS Automotive expects this model's production to reach 46,000 units during 2016. The site will also benefit from the QX30 crossover which will come on stream next year and peak at around 21,000 units during 2017. Combined with production of Nissan models at the site, we expect the site's output to remain at around 500,000 units or more during 2016 and 2017, up from the 475,000 units expected this year.
