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.
