Volume boost for Nissan Sunderland Plant

As a result of existing scrappage initiatives operating on the continent, as well as the forthcoming UK scheme beginning later this month, Nissan Sunderland Plant is expecting additional, short-term customer demand for Micra, Note and Qashqai.

Last month Nissan experienced a year-on-year increase in sales in major European markets currently operating a scrappage scheme. This includes Germany (+9%), France (+31%) and Italy (+21%).

In anticipation of this temporary increase in demand continuing, the plant will recruit 150 manufacturing staff on fixed-term contracts from June.

The Temporary Manufacturing Staff, who will receive 4-month contracts, will operate over both of the plant’s two production lines to support a planned volume increase of around 14,000 units in total.

Trevor Mann, Nissan Senior Vice President for Manufacturing, Europe commented: “The impact of the financial crisis is continuing and our 2009 full-year forecasts still reflect a depressed market overall.

“However, this short term spike in demand, fuelled by a number of scrappage schemes introduced across Europe, is clearly a very welcome boost to business during what is a highly challenging period for all car makers.”