Nissan Motor Co. on Friday announced an additional investment of up to 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) to expand electric vehicle production at its Sunderland plant in Britain.
The plant, Britain's biggest car factory, will be the production site for electric versions of the popular Qashqai and Juke sport utility vehicle models, in addition to the Leaf, the Japanese automaker's flagship electric vehicle.
The new investment is in addition to the 1 billion pounds the automaker said it would spend on electrification of cars in the country in 2021, pushing the total amount to 3 billion pounds.
Employing around 6,000 people, the Sunderland plant has been operational since 1986 and has produced over 11 million vehicles, including the Bluebird, gasoline-powered Juke and Qashqai models, as well as the Leaf.
While the outlook of the plant appeared clouded at one point after Britain left the European Union in 2020, the latest announcement underscores Nissan's eagerness to make the plant a key EV production hub in Europe amid competition over the environmentally friendly cars with rivals such as Tesla Inc.
"Exciting, electric vehicles are at the heart of our plans to achieve carbon neutrality," Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida said in a press release.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was quoted in the press release as saying Nissan's investment "will no doubt secure Sunderland's future as the U.K.'s Silicon Valley for electric vehicle innovation and manufacturing."
