Nissan adds a third production facility for the Leaf EV; revised car boasts a 124-mile range
Nissan has begun production of the facelifted Leaf in Sunderland. It follows a four-year investment in the factory and a new battery plant costing £420m.
The decision to produce the Leaf in Britain has created 2000 new jobs, 500 of them directly with Nissan. This raises the total staff number to 6100 at Sunderland.
Nissan's executive vice president, Andy Palmer said “The Leaf is our most technically advanced car yet and the launch of this new model, built along with its batteries in Sunderland, is a huge boost not only for the plant but for British manufacturing”.
Visiting the new production facility, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Nissan's record breaking year last year is a success story for UK volume car manufacturing and demonstrates how our automotive industry is thriving in the global race”.
Nissan's second-generation Leaf features a improvements over the original. The car's range is increased to 124 miles from 109, and the battery can be recharged in half the time. A series of suspension changes aim to improve the Leaf's composure on European roads whilst the introduction of an entry-level Visia trim will bring the price close to £20,000 with a Government grant. Overall, Nissan claims a total of more than 100 changes for the 2013 Leaf.
There are now 55,000 Leafs on the world's roads, being produced at three factories; Sunderland, Smyrna in America and Oppama, Japan. Nissan plans to further extend its EV range with an electric NV200 and an Infiniti model.
Matt Bird