Nissan to Add Infiniti Model at U.K. Plant

Nissan will build an Infiniti-branded compact car based on its Etherea concept at its plant in Sunderland, U.K.

Sunderland will be the only plant making the new model, which will be exported to global markets.

Nissan will invest about £250 million ($407.3 million) to expand the facility for production of up to 60,000 of the cars annually.

The additional production is expected to generate 1,000 new jobs in the U.K., including 280 directly at the Sunderland plant.

Because of capacity limitations at the facility, addition of the new Infiniti means that a C-segment hatchback announced for the plant in April will be manufactured elsewhere.

Nissan says sourcing for this vehicle will be decided and revealed at a later date.

Nissan Executive Vice President and Chief Performance Officer Colin Dodge says the decision to manufacture a premium product at Sunderland for the first time is a milestone and reconfirms the ongoing success of the plant, which he says is moving up the value chain.

“Just as important, the new Infiniti, which will be exported around the world, is being developed with help from our London design center and our European Technical Centre at Cranfield,” Dodge says in a statement.

Output of the new model is expected to launch in 2015.

The Etherea concept made its debut at the 2011 Geneva auto show. Aimed at competitors such as the BMW 1-Series, the front-drive, 4-passenger sedan was based on the Renault-Nissan Alliance C-platform that supports such vehicles as the Renault Megane and Nissan Qashqai.

It was powered by a supercharged 2.5L Mercedes-Benz 4-cyl. engine, a product of the Renault-Nissan-Daimler cooperation. That engine is expected to be employed in the production model, as well.