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Nissan Named UK’s Largest Car Manufacturer in 2009

Through its plant in Sunderland, Nissan was named UK’s largest car manufacturer for the 12th consecutive year. According to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Nissan managed to produce 338,150 units in Sunderland last year, which is more than a third of the 999,460 passenger cars produced in the UK in 2009.

SMMT says that the Qashqai is Nissan’s highest volume model produced at Sunderland, as the Japanese manufacturer produces 200,000 units of its crossover. Apart from Qashqai’s impressive sale volumes, the other two models built by Nissan in the UK, the Micra and the Note, also performed well, especially considering the difficult economical climate.

"This is good news for everyone at the plant. Credit for the achievement goes to our Sunderland workforce which continues to work extremely hard to meet demand,"
said Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Europe, Trevor Mann.

"This performance also reflects the strength of the models we are producing in Sunderland at the moment, especially Qashqai which continues to be an extremely popular car. 2010 is going to be another tough year for car makers, and the industry is predicting a cooling in demand in general terms. However, Sunderland has worked hard to win the right models for the market and we are benefiting from that," Mann added.

According to the Nissan officials, the Qashqai is expected to get another serious boost in sales this spring, as the model will be updated. The crossover will get a new front-end design, LED rear lights, new exterior colours and an environmentally friendly 'Pure Drive' diesel engine producing only 129g/km of CO2.
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