Qashqai puts Nissan on right road
The Qashqai
Business reporter
The success of Nissan's new Sunderland-built Qashqai model has led to 100 temporary staff being offered permanent jobs.
And, despite new figures showing the car giant's sales worldwide fell by more than three million in the last year, there was better news for the Wearside plant, with its critical market European market holding steady.
Nissan has taken on about 100 temporary workers as full-time staff after demand for the new Qashqai 4x4 family car hybrid exceeded expectation.
The news comes on top of the dozens of temporary jobs Nissan announced it was creating earlier this month thanks to the Qashqai.
A Nissan spokesman said: "Qashqai is about 4,500 sales ahead of the business plan and we have full order books up to the end of the September period and beyond.
"The Sunderland plant is going to continue to have a very significant role in Nissan's global success, especially in the European market."
Worldwide, Nissan sold 3,483,000 fewer vehicles in the year to the end of March than in the previous 12 months.
And it was in the firm's Japanese homeland that sales were hardest hit, with a drop of more than 12 per cent. Sales were also down by four per cent in the huge U.S. market.
But the company sold just 0.2 per cent fewer vehicles in Europe, to which the Sunderland plant supplies the vast majority of its products.
And with two news models – the Note and the Qashqai – having only recently come on line, plant bosses are confident that the future is bright on Wearside.
The company spokesman said: "It is right to say the global figures were a little disappointing but not unexpected given some of the factors that hit us during the year, such as changing customer demand and rising energy prices.
"Globally we have taken a bit of a hit but Europe was fairly flat, with sales of about 540,000 units, which is very good news for us as the European region is by far the biggest for us.
"In 2007 we are looking to build on that, with cars like Qashqai and Note – particularly Qashqai, the early signs for which are very positive."
Last Updated: 27 April 2007