About 600 new jobs will be created in Sunderland as car maker Nissan announced it will build its electric car, the Leaf, in the area.
About 50,000 electric cars will be made at the manufacturing plant in Sunderland each year, where the firm employs 4,000 people. The majority of new jobs will be at a new facility, also in Sunderland, where 60,000 batteries will be made.
UK production will start in 2013 and is part of a £420m investment by the manufacturer in the country. The first version of the Leaf, built abroad, will launch before this in March 2011.
Trevor Mann, senior vice president of Nissan Europe, said the UK government had helped to prime the country for such developments and “has been setting its stall out to get infrastructure in this country to accept electric vehicles. That’s important not only for Nissan but other manufacturers who want to come along as well.”
www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/pm/articles/2010/03/nissan-electric-car-to-create-600-uk-jobs.htm
