**Nissan is expected to announce imminently that it plans to build a new electric car at its Sunderland plant.**The Leaf electric car, which runs entirely on lithium-ion batteries, is due to go on sale worldwide at the end of the year.
Sunderland has already been named as the site to produce Nissan’s electric car batteries, creating 350 new jobs.
The manufacture of the Leaf is expected to safeguard hundreds more at the plant.
Nissan’s Sunderland plant is the UK’s largest car factory, employing 4,000 people and producing about a third of the cars made in the UK.
ANALYSIS
By Jorn Madslien, business reporter, BBC NewsNissan had already said that it would invest some 200m euros in a battery factory near its Sunderland manufacturing plant, yet it was never a given that the company would also produce its Leaf electric car here too. Its investment in the region is now set to be doubled.The North East’s efforts to gear up its electric motoring infrastructure and the UK government’s recent decision to subsidise buyers of electric cars to the tune of £5,000 obviously helped the Japanese automotive giant make up its mind.
But in the end, the right to produce the car and thus secure thousands of jobs in an otherwise economically depressed region was earned by the Nissan factory’s management and workers.
The car battery programme has already seen Nissan invest 200m euros (£179m) there.
Last year, Nissan’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn underlined his company’s commitment to its electric cars programme.
“The electric car will account for 10% of the global market in 10 years,” he told BBC News.
Earlier this year, Trevor Mann, manufacturing boss at Sunderland, told the BBC he was optimistic about the plant’s chances of manufacturing the Leaf.
“We’ve had a fantastic track record of winning new models,” he told the BBC.
“They’ve been won, not just on manufacturing efficiency, but also on total delivery cost - including parts and materials, logistics, taxes and duties, as well as the cost of sales.”