Nissan to build new Qashqai and Juke EVs in Sunderland

Nissan will build the next-generation versions of the hugely popular Nissan Qashqai and Juke alongside the forthcoming new Leaf at its plant in Sunderland thanks to fresh investment of up to £2 billion by the firm and its partners – meaning all three models produced at the site will become fully electric.

The Qashqai and Juke have previously only been offered with combustion engined powertrains, but their successors will go full electric. Both will also gain bold new styling, drawing heaily on the Hyper Urban and Hyper Punk concept cars shown at the Tokyo motor show recently. 

The investment will include up to £1.12bn by Nissan in its UK operations, with the rest provided by partners such as battery partner AESC. It is also understood that the finance includes significant government investment, although terms of this have not been disclosed.

The new plans for the Nissan plant build on the 2021 launch of the EV36Zero hub at the facility, which will now encompass the production of three electric vehicles – and will now include three battery gigafactories. The Sunderland site is currently home to production of the current petrol-engined Qashqai and Juke models, along with the second-gen Leaf EV.

Nissan had previously announced one electric car – a sleek new SUV that is now confirmed as the Leaf successor – would be built in Sunderland. The investment in the original phase of the scheme amounted to £1 billion, including £423 million from Nissan. The company says that the next investment by itself and its partners will be worth up to £2 billion – meaning the move to convert the plant fully to EV production will represent a £3 billion investment.

Nissan boss Makato Uchida said that “exciting, electric vehicles are at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality.”

He added: “The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain’s biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe.”

The substantial investment in the UK automotive industry has been welcomed by the government. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called it “a massive vote of confidence in the UK’s automotive industry, which already contributes a massive £71 billion a year to our economy.”

He added: “This venture will no doubt secure Sunderland’s future as the UK’s Silicon Valley for electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing.”

Electric Qashqai and Juke successors to feature bold new styling

In confirming it would build replacements for the Qashqai and Juke crossovers in Sunderland, Nissan has now given the first hints about their styling. The two models will be “inspired” by the Hyper Urban and Hyper Punk concepts that were revealed at the Tokyo motor show recently.

The Hyper Punk, which is understood to preview the Juke, features a bold design that makes extensive use of origami-inspired “multifacted and polygonal surfaces”.

The Hyper Urban, described by Nissan as having a “sleek and modern aesthetic”, serves as a preview of the next Qashqai. The two concepts show that Nissan will  build on the edgy styling of both the current Juke and Qashqai.

As previously revealed, the Leaf successor will be based on the 2021 Chill-Out Concept, and will represent a major shift from its popular predecessor, taking the form of a sleek crossover. The firm has previously revealed that model is due to go into production in 2026.

Nissan says that future information on the models, including both names and launch dates, will be released “at a later time”. The Leaf replacement has previously been confirmed to arrive in 2026, and Nissan has committed to stop selling combustion-engined cars in Europe by 2030 – five years ahead of the current date required to do so by both the UK and European Union.

No technical details have been released yet, but both will use Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance EV platforms. Based on size, the Juke would be likely to use the CMF-BEV platform for smaller cars, joining the Leaf successor and the Renault 4 and 5. The Qashqai would likely sit on the larger CMF-EV, used by the larger Nissan Ariya and the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric.

The current Qashqai launched in 2021 and was Britain’s best-selling car last year. It has accounted for around a fifth of all cars manufactured in the UK since 2007, and is widely credited with sparking the craze for SUVs. Meanwhile, the popular Juke has been on sale since 2019. 

Nissan’s Sunderland plant currently has two production lines: one for the Juke and Qashqai, and one for the Qashqai and Leaf.

Nissan expands Sunderland investment

The original EV36Zero plan that launched in 2021 featured funding from Nissan, battery production partner Envision AESC and Sunderland City Council. As well as the upgrades to the Nissan plant, the deal included a new Envision AESC battery gigafactory that will have an eventual annual capacity of 30GWh – enough to power around 100,000 EVs each year. That will sit alongside the existing 1.9GWh AESC gigafactory, which will also be upgraded under the plan.

There are no details yet on the new third gigafactory, but Nissan does note that both vehicle and battery manufacturing will be powered by the EV36Zero Microgrid, which incorporates wind and solar farms at the site to provide 100 per cent renewable electricity. That includes a new 20MW solar farm.

In total, the overall investment in the two new models, the third gigafactory and other infrastructure projects will be worth around £2 billion, according to Nissan – indicating significant investment from other partners in the project.

Nissan has also confirmed £15 million of UK Government funding for a £30 million collaborative project that it will lead. That is designed to strengthen the zero-emission expertise at the Nissan Technical Centre in Cranfield.

It is not clear if the UK government has invested directly in Nissan’s Sunderland plant, or whether it has offered other financial incentives. The government has used the announcement to launch a new Investment Zone for North East England that will focus on advanced manufacturing and ‘green’ industries.

Announcing that deal, chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “Nissan has a proud history in car manufacturing in Sunderland and their continued commitment to the UK shows how our support for business is getting results – helping create thousands of jobs and solidifying Britain’s place as the world’s eighth largest manufacturer.”

Nissan currently has around 7000 UK employees, and claims to support around 30,000 jobs in the wider UK supply chain.