Member Article

Nissan celebrate record breaking successes

Nissan in Sunderland have much to celebrate after the car plant broke their own record of the most vehicles made in the UK in one year.

In 2011 Nissan made a total of 480,485 vehicles in Sunderland, a massive increase of their 2010 total of 423,262 -which was in itself the first time any UK car plant had ever made more than 400,000 cars in one year.

Nissan’s Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK, Kevin Fitzpatrick, said: “Our 25th anniversary year will go down in UK car production history and all our staff can be proud of the many milestones we have passed.

High demand for the Quashqai and Juke models helped the plan to reach this total on November 16. Additional staff were hired to meet the requirements of these orders, resulting in the Nissan Sunderland plant achieving an all-time employment high with 5,462 people directly employed on site.

Commenting on the news, NECC Chief Executive James Ramsbotham commented:

“I would like to congratulate Nissan Motors UK and its dedicated workforce on yet another amazing year at the Wearside plant.

“Nissan is one of the North East’s blue chip companies. For quarter of a century it has established a reputation for excellence and continuous improvement, regularly smashing its own production records.”

2012 is now set to be an exciting one for staff in Sunderland, as the first lithium-ion battery outside of Japan goes into production. Preparations will also get underway for the start of the Nissan LEAF production in 2013.

Mr Ramsbotham continued: “The importance of Nissan to the regional economy cannot be underestimated. For every person employed by the company another four are supported in Nissan’s supply chain so for employment at the plant to reach a record high is another welcome achievement.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .