Nissan Qashqai Passes One Million Production Milestone

The Nissan Sunderland Plant in Britain celebrated the arrival into this world of the one millionth Qashqai crossover today, making it one of the most marketable cars ever made in Britain. It took Nissan only four years, six months and 23 days to reach the milestone figure, making it the fastest car made in Britain to reach this record.

The vehicle that marked the occasion was silver 2.0-litre diesel TEKNA Qashqai, which will now go on display at The O2 Arena in London and one lucky person will win the special car. In addition, Nissan also made a nice ‘little’ drawing with crossovers that said “ONE MILLION” and marks the fact that the Qashqai has joined millionaires’ row, as they call it.

The crossover is built on Line 1 at Nissan Sunderland Plant, where a third shift was introduced in May 2010 to help keep up with demand. On average, 1,200 Qashqais per day are produced at the plant, or one every minute that the production line is working. More than 80 per cent of Qashqai production is exported to 97 markets worldwide from the Port of Tyne.

“The Nissan Qashqai has been a phenomenal success since its start of production just four and a half years ago. Qashqai was a real crossover pioneer and producing one million in such a short space of time is a fantastic achievement, not just by staff at the Sunderland Plant, but also by the designers and engineers who developed such a popular car and our dealer network who have helped to generate such high demand,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, Nissan Vice President for Manufacturing in the UK.

"The Qashqai is a success story for both Nissan and the UK. With the millionth car coming off the production line, the Sunderland, Cranfield and Paddington workforce should take great pride in its popularity,” UK Business Minister Mark Prisk. “It’s great news that they will be able to build on their success with the recent announcement that the UK has been chosen to design, engineer and build the new Qashqai model."