Nissan will lead a £2bn investment in its Sunderland car plant to make two new electric models at the site and build a third UK battery factory, the Japanese carmaker said on Friday.
The company said it would invest up to £1.12bn to manufacture electric replacements for the Qashqai and Juke models, which it currently builds alongside the electric Leaf in the North East facility. Its battery supplier, Chinese group Envision, is expected to contribute the rest of the investment.
Envision owns AESC, which supplies Nissan and already runs one large battery plant in Sunderland. It is constructing a second factory on the same site. The location of a third planned factory to supply Sunderland has not been disclosed.