Nissan to invest £100m in Sunderland car plant
The UK’s biggest car plant is to receive a further £100m investment, after Nissan said it plans to build its next generation Juke model in the UK.
The investment is a will secure “valuable jobs for thousands of working people in the area”, chancellor George Osborne said in Sunderland.
"Our ambitious plan to build the Northern Powerhouse means building on the area's strengths – including manufacturing – and this announcement is an important sign of Britain being chosen as a global leader in car production," Osborne added.
Read more: Strongest UK car production in seven years
The announcement also gives security to the Sunderland plant “beyond 2020, which the team has earned through many years of hard work and their ability to continually raise the bar on quality”, Paul Willcox, Nissan Europe chairman said.
In June the UK reported the strongest UK car production figures in seven years, boosted by domestic demand. The car plant has made 500,000 vehicles each year over the past three years, with 80 per cent of the cars exported to over 130 markets.
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Nissan is the biggest carmaker in the history of the UK car industry, employing almost 8,000 people in its UK design, engineering, sales and manufacturing operations, having invested over £3.5bn in the UK since 1986.
Data from the Office of National Statistics this week showed the UK car industry outperforming the UK's general manufacturing industry, with the recovery among car makers growing faster than the wider manufacturing sector.