Nissan’s Sunderland Plant has celebrated a major milestone after seeing its 10 millionth vehicle roll off its production line.
The Nissan Qashqai Tekna that was the 10,000,000th vehicle came 33 years after the plant opened, meaning that one vehicle has been produced at the Sunderland factory every two minutes since 1986.
The milestone will be a boost for the plant, coming at a time of turbulence in the automotive industry.
This year has seen Nissan cancel the production of two models at Sunderland, while fellow car manufacturers Ford and Honda have shut plants entirely.
Steve Marsh, vice president of manufacturing at Nissan Sunderland, said: “Building ten million vehicles is a tremendous achievement for everyone associated with the plant.
“Reaching this huge figure has called on all the ingenuity, commitment and spirit of our highly skilled workforce, many of who hail from the North East of England.
“Together we are determined to continue to drive up the high quality standards our customers have come to expect over the last three decades.”
The landmark car was equipped with some of Nissan’s most cutting-edge features, including its ProPILOT technology, which controls the steering, acceleration and braking in a single lane on highways during heavy traffic, as well as high-speed cruising.
The Qashqai - one of nine models that has been produced at Sunderland over the last three decades - is its most popular, contributing 3.4m to the 10m total. It is followed by the Micra, which was produced from 1992 to 2010 and accounted for 2.4m models, and then the Primera (1.5m).
There are currently three models in production at Sunderland - the Qashqai, the Juke and the all-electric Leaf.
The plant was built on the site of a former airfield, with a ground breaking ceremony taking place in July 1984 and the first car being produced two years later.
The workforce at the plant has risen from an initial 470 to around 7,000 today, with Nissan’s annual turnover of more than £6.3bn making it by far the North East’s largest company.
Nissan has tried to stay out of the Brexit debate but has warned that “continued uncertainty around the UK’s future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours plan for the future”.
