Nissan reveals electric car plans for Sunderland plant

Mar 18 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

NISSAN is today set to safeguard thousands of jobs by announcing plans to manufacture its new electric car in the North East.

The car producer will this morning reveal it has chosen its Wearside factory to build the Leaf vehicle.

The decision follows huge, behind the scenes efforts to place the North East at the centre of the low carbon industry.

High ranking ministers will today travel to Nissan’s Washington plant and reveal their support. At the same time, Nissan’s top chiefs will fly into London and unveil further details.

The move represents the culmination of two years’ work in which Nissan has been transformed from a manufacturer forced to make redundancies to one whose investment underpins thousands of North East jobs.

The Sunderland-built Leaf car will have a top speed of over 90mph, a 100-mile range and a dedicated dashboard navigation system showing its range on remaining battery levels.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said last night: “Nissan’s commitment to Sunderland is a massive vote of confidence in the workforce and to manufacturing in the United Kingdom.

“Nissan’s initiatives, and support from the Government, show that by working together we can achieve our aim of making the UK a world-leader in ultra-low carbon vehicle production.” Last night regional minister Nick Brown said he was confident today’s announcement at the Sunderland plant would safeguard a generation of jobs.

He added: “Nissan is the UK’s largest car manufacture and has been for the last 12 years. It has been the UK’s largest car exporter for the last 10 years.