Nissan to build new Qashqai and Juke EVs in Sunderland

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 £71bn 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.”

Notably, around 80% of the cars built in Sunderland are exported abroad.

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 previews the Juke, features a bold design that makes extensive use of origami-inspired “multifaceted 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.

Nissan has previously revealed that the Leaf successor is due to go into production in 2026.

The Leaf replacement has previously been confirmed to arrive in 2026 and Nissan has committed to stop selling ICE cars in Europe by 2030 – five years ahead of the current date required to do so by both the UK and the EU.

No technical details have been released yet, but both will use Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance EV platforms.

The Juke and Qashqai will sit on the CMF-EV platform, used by the larger Nissan Ariya and the Renault Mégane E-Tech Electric.

The Sunderland plant will focus on the CMF-EV platform, with production of the new Nissan Micra EV – which will use the smaller CMF-BEV arhitecture – set to take place alongside the new Renault 4 and Renault 5 at a Renault plant in France.

The current Qashqai was 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 open with a capacity of 11GWh but could grow to an eventual annual capacity of 30GWh – enough to power around 100,000 EVs each year.

That will sit alongside the existing 1.9GWh gigafactory, which will also be upgraded under the plan.

The new gigafactory is also set to be built by Envision AESC, which is owned by Chinese firm Envision. 

Nissan officials said that the third facility would need to be around the same size as the second one to give the plant the battery capacity it requires. The factory produced around 238,000 cars last year.

Envision AESC chairman Lei Zhang said that "in order to meet increasing battery demand from Nissan", the firm had "embarked on a strategic feasibility study focused on the potential expansion of our gigafactory operations in Sunderland".

Zhang added that the project was "a testament to AESC’s commitment to fostering innovation and propelling sustainable automotive solutions in the UK”.

Nissan noted 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% renewable electricity. That includes a new 20MW solar farm.

That's key to the investment, with the firm noting that the future energy requirements exceed the capacity is has from the national grid.

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