Nissan celebrates 25 years of manufacturing in the United Kingdom

Nissan Sunderland Plant is today marking the 25th anniversary of its official opening on September 8, 1986. Lady Thatcher, the then-Prime Minister travelled to the North East to perform the ceremony and to paint the second eye on a traditional Japanese ‘daruma’ doll to confirm the successful opening of the plant. This followed the painting of the first eye by Prince Charles and Princess Diana during a visit to Nissan’s Zama Plant in Japan.

In the 25 years since, Nissan Sunderland Plant has rewritten the record books for UK car production, with volumes increasing from 5,139 Bluebirds in that first year to 423,262 cars in 2010 – which was the first time ever that a UK car plant had made more than 400,000 vehicles in one year.



Nissan has now manufactured more than 6.2 million vehicles and 12 different models at Sunderland, including Bluebird, Primera, Micra, Almera, Note, Qashqai and Juke.

“I celebrate this milestone with the Nissan Sunderland Plant and commend the significant achievements of the plant and its employees over the past 25 years,” said Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nissan Motor Co.

“As the UK’s largest car plant, biggest car exporter, and soon battery plant - with battery production for the Nissan LEAF planned for next year - Sunderland is a beacon of Nissan’s exemplary leadership in manufacture, management and technology, which define a global car company in the 21st century.”


Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I welcome Nissan's continued investment in the UK, and the important role Nissan is playing in helping to rebalance our economy.

"With the design, development and manufacture of their new generation Qashqai all taking place in the UK, Nissan has restated its confidence in the skills of its British workforce and in the UK's manufacturing sector."

To mark this milestone, a ceremony will be held at the plant in which a time capsule will be buried on the site – recreating the ceremony held when construction of the plant began. The new time capsule updates the artefacts placed inside the original, including a model Qashqai, a telephone directory, newspapers from today, a Sunderland AFC shirt and items donated by regional partners such as the North East Chamber of Commerce, the CBI, Sunderland Council and Gateshead College.

Of the 430 people who were employed at the plant on September 8, 1986, 133 remain employed at Sunderland Plant, and today’s ceremony will be performed by two of those original members of staff: Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing in Europe, Trevor Mann, and Nissan’s Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK, Kevin Fitzpatrick.


This 25th anniversary year has been a special one for Nissan in the UK. As well as celebrating a record year for production, staff produced their six millionth car in January, shortly before the first shipment of the 100% electric Nissan LEAF arrived in the UK in February. In June Nissan’s Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn visited the UK to announce that the next generation of the Nissan Qashqai would be designed, engineered and manufactured in the UK, just as the Qashqai became the fastest UK-made car to reach one million units.

Staff are now gearing up for production starting at the company’s new lithium-ion battery plant in the New Year, ahead of Nissan LEAF production beginning at Sunderland in 2013. Production of the new Qashqai will take Nissan’s total investment in its UK manufacturing base to £3.3 billion.









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New 1.6 dCi Pure Drive engine for Nissan Qashqai

In line with a pledge to continually lower the emissions from its cars, Nissan has developed a new Pure Drive version of the top selling Qashqai producing just 129g/km of CO2 with a fuel consumption of 4,9 l/100 km.



It is powered by a brand new, state-of-the-art 1.6-litre diesel engine that not only delivers strong fuel economy and low emissions but which has the same levels of torque and top speed as the 2.0-litre dCi engine it replaces.



Peak power from the new engine is 130PS which is backed by an exceptional 320Nm of torque, available from as low as 1,750rpm. And this is just the start. Early next year a version of the model will be launched with Nissan's Stop / Start System which will help to reduce CO2 emissions still further to a remarkable 119 g/km and 4.5 l/100 km of fuel consumption.







"Nissan dominates the crossover market with its ground-breaking design and consumer-friendly technologies. With the introduction of this new diesel engine, we give our customers the best of both worlds - low emissions plus an even better driving performance.



"This is a remarkable engine, best in class in so many respects. It provides the dynamic driving performance which matches that of the outgoing 2.0-litre dCi yet produces fuel consumption and emission figures equal to or better than our existing 1.5-litre dCi unit," said Paul Willcox, Senior Vice President, Nissan Europe.



To add to the dynamic excitement come a number of innovative new items of equipment including, for the first time on a C-segment car, Around View Monitor. More usually found on luxury cars, AVM uses a series of small cameras located on the exterior of the vehicle to make parking and manoeuvring as safe as possible by giving the driver a real-time bird's eye view of the environment around the car. A sophisticated new CVT gearbox will also be available on 1.6-litre petrol models to bring further drivetrain options to the range.



These latest developments underline Nissan's leadership of the booming Crossover market and keep Qashqai well ahead of its opposition.



"When Qashqai was launched in 2007 it quickly re-wrote the C-segment rule book, offering innovation and character in a previously conservative market. Its combination of SUV looks and toughness with dynamic handling, strong performance and plenty of interior space captured the imagination of the car-buying public.



"After a little more than four and a half years, we've built more than one million Qashqai and seven-seat Qashqai+2 models at our Sunderland factory where we have three shifts working 24 hours a day to keep up with demand. On average we build 1,200 examples every day," said Guillaume Cartier, Vice President Sales, Nissan Europe.



"The new Pure Drive 1.6dCi Qashqai, especially with innovative options like Stop / Start System and the Around View Monitor, will cement our leadership of the Crossover segment," he added.



Note: The Pure Drive designation is given to every Nissan product that emits 130g/km of CO2 or less. On its introduction the ‘cut off' point was 140g, but as part of the Nissan Green Programme membership of this exclusive club gets tougher all the time. The programme calls for a further drop to 120g in 2013.



| Nissan

Limited edition Nissan Juke sees the dark side: Juke Kuro

Whether talking about the contents of your wardrobe or your garage, style gurus will always tell you that black is never out of fashion.



So the new special edition of Nissan’s stylish Juke crossover is sure to appeal to the most fashion conscious drivers. Named ‘Kuro’, meaning black in Japanese, the strictly limited edition provides a new, dark look to the British-built Juke.



Based on the top-of-the-range Tekna grade, the Kuro features new ten spoke, 17-inch alloy wheels finished in gloss black along with black door mirrors and handles.







Only 700 examples of Kuro will be produced for the UK. As with all fashion items, a label is crucial so the Kuro’s exclusivity is acknowledged with a special numbered plaque fitted to the centre console.



The Kuro is available with a choice of two metallic paint finishes which could complement the contents of any wardrobe: Pearl Black or Force Red.





The full range of Juke engine options is available with the Kuro, starting with a 1.6-litre petrol priced at £17,395. For those who like power dressing, the obvious choice will be the flagship 190hp turbocharged DIG-T at £18,995.



The Kuro is available to order now, with customer deliveries expected to start on 1 October 2011.







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Nissan design a catamaran to Race in Denmark

If you think the Nissan LEAF is the only zero-emission Nissan "vehicle" attracting attention these days, think again. There is a new model hitting the road this summer - or, more accurately, setting sail - and this creation doesn't even require batteries. Truly harnessing the "power of nature," a Nissan-built Catamaran will soon be sailing high in the Danish ocean, the latest non-automotive design and development project by Nissan Design America (NDA), based in San Diego, California.



Matt Struble, who led the design and modeling team at NDA, will be racing in the 2011 Class A Catamaran ("A-Cat") World Championship from August 13 through 20 in Skødstrup, Denmark. Originally from Michigan, Matt was the 2009 ice boating world champion. After moving to San Diego, Struble turned his passion to ocean sailing. His athletic achievements quickly translated into the new sport, as he holds the current title of A-Cat U.S. champion. The Class A Catamaran is controlled by a single sailor and is the smallest in size in all Catamaran race boats.







As a Model Realization Lead, Matt is engaged daily in creating three-dimensional realizations of designers' ideas for future Nissan and Infiniti products. Earlier this year, Matt was presented with a unique opportunity to design a race boat for the upcoming championship race himself and build it while training his relatively new team of modeling specialists at the same time.



The boat's composite structure was designed and built entirely in-house. Improving all aspects of aero- and hydro-dynamics, the team looked at every piece, leaving no stone unturned, achieving cleaner, smoother form and surface that are efficient to add competitive edge, according to Matt.



"We weren't trying to create something that already exists, but something groundbreaking," Struble said. "This has truly been a great experience and great project for us. This one in particular was quite unique because you have to create it in your mind, but also physically manufacture it and follow through. It was great for our team to see the project from start to finish."



In creating the boat, the modeling team was able to gain valuable experience and knowledge with new materials, spraying techniques and model finish applications and learned how to achieve more accurate models, as well as new techniques and processes.



"This has been a great opportunity and experience for the team, whose core business is model building, data development and digitizing. The goal for the team is to timely achieve accurate models to enhance the overall business of design," said Rich Plavetich, General Manager, Design Business, NDA. "The knowledge and skills acquired from this experience will be incorporated into the future Nissan and Infiniti vehicle design development process," Plavetich said.



| Nissan

Nissan announces prices for advanced new DIG-S version of Micra

Nissan has released the prices for its new highly-advanced, Micra DIG-S. Representing the latest in low-emission engine technology, the DIG-S offers the performance of a bigger petrol engine but with the fuel economy of a diesel.



The ultra low emission 1.2-litre, three cylinder supercharged petrol engine emits only 95g/km for the Visia version and 99g/km for the better-equipped Acenta and Tekna models. Official fuel consumption is 68.9mpg or 65.7mpg on the combined cycle, beating some similarly sized diesel models. Unlike most economy models though, the DIG-S also has a performance boost, with power rising from 80PS to 98PS.







The cost of this ground-breaking technology? The DIG-S costs just £1,000 more than the equivalent*, non-supercharged version; much less than the price premiums charged by many rivals for equivalent diesel versions. Owners will also see savings at the pumps, with diesel currently averaging 4.1p per litre** more than petrol.



The engine achieves the improvements in power and economy through a series of measures to improve efficiency. Direct injection, valve timing control with eco mode, improved exhaust gas recirculation, specially shaped pistons and a higher compression ratio ensure the most power is extracted from every drop of fuel.



To reduce inefficient power loss within the engine operating system the Miller Cycle is incorporated. By allowing the inlet valve to stay open longer, along with a higher compression ratio, the compression stroke becomes more efficient.





More energy is saved by using an intelligent alternator which recharges the battery when the engine power is not in demand, such as under braking. A stop / start function also helps to reduce emissions and fuel consumption by automatically turning off the engine whilst stationary and restarts again when you are ready to move off. The amount of CO2 saved during stop / start is displayed on the dashboard.



The engine is available as a 5-speed manual or with an optional advanced CVT automatic gearbox for an additional £1,000.



Competitive insurance group ratings for the DIG-S has been set at 8E for the Visia and 9E for the Acenta and Tekna grades, based on the Association of British Insurers (ABI) 50 group rating system.



* DIG-S Visia comes complete with air conditioning as standard equipment

** AA Fuel Price Report July 2011

# Tekna grade only







1.2 DIG–S 98 PS: VISIA - ACENTA -TEKNA

On the road price: £11,150 - £12,150 - £13,650



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Estado de las operaciones de Nissan en Japón (a día de hoy)

We at Nissan express our deepest sympathy to those individuals and families still suffering from the disaster.

Please see below for the latest update regarding our production status in Japan:

Production in April
- Production volume in April is expected to be slightly above 40% of the actual production volume in April last year.

Production in May
-l In order to recover delays in April's production, Nissan is planning to operate at levels higher than planned, and we are requesting suppliers to deliver parts accordingly.
- Yet, actual production will depend on the actual delivery of parts, and we are confirming this on a daily basis.


Production in June
- Production levels will depend on the status of parts deliveries from suppliers.

Nissan is focusing all efforts to ensure swift restoration of its production operations. Additionally, the entire Nissan group is committed to quickly restoring its sales network in the regions impacted by the earthquake. We understand this has caused many inconveniences to our valued customers, but ask for their continued support and understanding.

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