Nissan to Add Second New Hatchback at Sunderland in 2014

Nissan plans to manufacture a new C-segment car at its Sunderland plant in the U.K. in 2014, the second all-new hatchback announced since March.

Production capacity for the newest model, which will compete with the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf, will be about 80,000 units annually, triggering the need for an additional shift.

This will see both production lines operating around the clock for the first time in the plant’s 26-year history, a move that will raise manufacturing capacity to more than 550,000 units annually.

The new C-segment hatchback, to be named and detailed closer to its sales launch, marks the auto maker’s return to what is considered mainstream the midsize segment in Europe. The project will create 225 jobs at Nissan and 900 at component companies, the auto maker says.

The latest news follows Nissan’s announcement at the Geneva auto show in March that Sunderland also will build a B-segment compact hatchback in 2013 based on the auto maker’s Invitation concept. Production of the Leaf electric vehicle also begins next year.

Combined, the two new hatchbacks will result in more than 3,000 additional jobs added to the U.K.’s automotive sector within the next two years, including 625 at Nissan. The Sunderland workforce will reach a record 6,225.

Nissan is the U.K.’s largest auto maker, a title it has held since 1998. The Japanese car company is spending £127 million ($201 million) at Sunderland to build the midsize hatchback and will receive £8.2 million ($13 million) from the U.K. government’s regional growth fund.

Nissan says this takes investment at Sunderland in recent years to £921 million ($1.45 billion), more than a quarter of overall investment in the plant. Sunderland became the only U.K. car factory to produce more than 400,000 units in a single year in 2010 when 423,000 Qashqais, Notes and Jukes rolled off the line.

That record was smashed last year when 480,485 vehicles were built, and the plant now is set to pass the half-million mark. Some 80% of Sunderland’s production is exported to 97 markets.

Nissan Chief Operating Officer Toshiyuki Shiga says the auto maker has achieved record growth in Europe in recent years by providing innovative, customer-focused models such as the Qashqai and Juke that are designed, developed and manufactured within the region.