Nissan today unveiled a new £52m XL press line at its Sunderland plant as it gets ready to start work on the new Qashqai.
The press, which weighs more than 2,000 tonnes and has taken 18 months to install, is part of a £400m investment by Nissan to help it produce the new Qashqai.
The press - which was unveiled by Nissan’s chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta - includes a new recycling system to segregate and process scrap.
It is capable of stamping more than 6.1m vehicle panels a year, with a maximum combined force of 5,400 tonnes.
The unveiling comes 10 years after the first Juke was produced at Sunderland.
Steve Marsh, vice president for manufacturing at Sunderland, said: “Watching the first perfect panels coming off the press was a proud moment, and is a reflection of the tremendous skills we have here on Wearside.
“Juke is an iconic model. I know I speak for the whole plant in saying how proud we are to see the fantastic new version out on the roads, and that we are determined to keep delivering it to the quality levels our customers have come to expect.”
The £400m invested for Qashqai comes on top of the £100m invested for the launch of new Juke, and is part of an overall £1bn planned investment into the plant by Nissan over five years.
The investment has been supported by the Government.
