Nissan to create 2,000 new UK jobs
Japanese carmaker Nissan is to manufacture its new Invitation compact vehicle at its UK factory in Sunderland.
The announcement was made today at the Geneva motor show and was hailed by Business secretary Vince Cable as 'fantastic news'.
The move is expected to create up to 2,000 new jobs and is being supported with £9million of Regional Growth Fund money from the government. Nissan is investing £125million.
CBI director-general, John Cridland said: "This is brilliant news for jobs in the North East and a real boost for business investment in the UK.
"The Nissan Sunderland journey is a remarkable story demonstrating British manufacturing capabilities at their best – excellent training, a committed skilled workforce and brilliant determined leadership."
Production of the Invitation is due to start in mid-2013 at an initial rate of 100,000 a year. The announcement has been welcomed by industry and business leaders after numerous job losses at leading manufacturers over the past year.
Stephen Tetlow, chief executive of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), said: "This is another sign of a growing renaissance in UK car manufacturing. The sector is growing at over 15% a year, creating thousands of jobs and driving British manufacturing out of the doldrums.
"Nissan's Sunderland plant is the company's most productive plant in Europe, which is both a testament to the UK's world class engineers and a signal as to why our car manufacturers are seeing such impressive growth."
