Nissan has announced it has built more Qashqais at its Sunderland plant than any other car during its three decades of manufacturing in Europe.
The first generation Qasqhai started production at Nissan’s Sunderland plant back in December 2006. Combining production figures for the first and second (current) generation Qashqai, Nissan has revealed that at the end of February 2016 it had built a total of 2,398,134 units of the Qashqai at Sunderland.
Qashqai sets new production records
That figure surpasses the previous most built Nissan in Europe, the Micra, which has had a total of 2,368,704 units built at the Nissan Sunderland plant.
No other car in the history of the British car industry has reached two million units produced in a period of time as short as the Qashqai has. Nissan says it’s currently averaging production of around 1,200 Qashqais every day at Sunderland, with demand for the family car showing no sign of slowing down.
Nissan’s Senior Vice President for Manufacturing in Europe, Colin Lawther, said: “The Micra is an iconic model for Nissan in Europe, made for 18 years in our Sunderland plant. To overtake it in half the time shows just how quickly our European customers have taken Qashqai to their hearts.”
Semi-autonomous Qashqai coming
Earlier this month, during the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, Nissan announced a significant new development for the Qashqai, confirming it would receive semi-autonomous driving capability by 2017.
The Qashqai will be the first Nissan sold in European markets to benefit from such technology, which the manufacturer is calling Piloted Drive 1.0. The way the system will essentially work is that it will allow the car to drive itself under heavy traffic conditions in a single lane or motorway. The Qashqai with the new semi-autonomous system will be fitted with multiple sensors that can scan the car’s surroundings.
