More SUVs to emerge from Vauxhall

Vauxhall has revealed it all-new Crossland X, what it sees as a second vital ingredient to the company’s burgeoning SUV offering, which is due to grow still further in 2017 with the launch of the larger Grandland X later in the year. 

Nissan’s UK plant wins extra model

Nissan’s facility in Sunderland is set to manufacture a special edition Juke hatchbacks.

Qashqai generates UK cash for Nissan

Nissan claims it is making one Quashqai every 62 seconds at its Sunderland, UK production site.

Qashqai Euro sales boost Nissan UK

Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK (NMMUK) claims its European vehicle sales hit 57,332 last month; higher than the 48,560 recorded in the same period last year.

Nissan halts UK sales to Russia

Nissan, after declaring Russia as one its top European area for sales, ahead of the UK, has frozen orders from the region..

Nissan just loves the Russian market

Nissan sold more cars to Russia than anywhere else in Europe last month, figures have revealed.

Nissan refines Infiniti Q30 prototypes

A team from the North-East car firm Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK has travelled to Japan to refine prototypes of the Infiniti Q30 hatchback.

Production trials start next February ahead of the launch of car making in August, according to the Northern Echo.

Nissan launches Pathfinder in Russia

Nissan has launched the Pathfinder range in Russia; it includes the first Russian manufactured petrol-electric hybrid. Next year, Nissan will add Qashqai to its Russian production line-up.

Pathfinder debuts alongside the new Russian-built Sentra sedan, reaffirming Nissan's commitment to bringing to market built in Russia, with Russian consumers in mind.

LEAF more popular in UK than Japan

THE Sunderland-built Nissan LEAF is more popular with owners than the version built in Japan, the car maker's electric vehicle boss has told The Northern Echo in the UK on the anniversary of the hatchbacks debut.  

More than 13,000 LEAFs have been built at Nissan's North-East factory in the 12 months since the UK Prime Minister formally set the production line rolling.

Kia launches Soul EV in Chicago

Kia Motors has used the Chicago Auto Show to unveil its “first mass-production” electric vehicle, the Soul EV.

Set to go on sale in the US in third quarter 2014, to be followed later by Europe and the UK, the Soul EV will be Kia's “first all-electric, zero-emissions car” to be sold in the US.

Nissan UK tops plants, brands

In the UK, Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK at Washington on Tyneside produced the most vehicles in 2012 with an output of 510,572 units. It also made the most of any one single brand – 310,837 of its Qashqai model. In June, the plant will begin building the second-generation Leaf electric car.

The figures produced in the SMMT Motor Industry Facts 2013 of the ‘top five’ UK producers and brands, showed that Jaguar Land Rover held second position with 305,467 vehicles built, though in model ranking its Evoque brand came fourth with 112,331 units built. A new nine-speed automatic gearbox from ZF will be fitted first to Evoque models before spreading through the range.

The third highest output was recorded by BMW’s Mini plant at Oxford with 207,530 units built. The Mini brand came second behind Quasqai.

Nissan Etherea set for UK

Nissan is investing £250 million in manufacturing facilities at its site in Washington, Sunderland, to build the new Infiniti Etherea hatchback from next year.

The project will create an extra 1,000 jobs in the UK, including some 280 in the North-East. The Etherea is seen by Nissan as competition for the Audi A3 and the BMW 1-Series.

Etherea will be manufactured only in Sunderland and production, when it gathers momentum, is expected to hit at least 60,000 a year. Additional contributions will come from Nissan’s London design centre as well as the Nissan European Technical Centre (NETC) at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, which also handles design work as well as component and vehicle development.

Nissan’s Infiniti ‘luxury’ brand is the equivalent of Toyota’s Lexus.