Nissan has completed a £450m upgrade of its Sunderland factory as production of the third-generation Leaf gets underway, positioning the UK’s largest car plant to support a longer, more flexible transition to electrification.
The investment introduces a new battery “marriage station”, where automated systems fit battery packs into vehicle bodies in under a minute, allowing electric, hybrid and petrol models to be built on the same kilometre-long production line. Nissan says this future-proofs the site, removing the need for further major retooling as EV volumes grow.
The Leaf remains the only electric car built in high volumes in the UK, with the Sunderland plant capable of producing up to 600,000 vehicles a year, although output totalled 282,000 units in 2024. Batteries are supplied by neighbouring manufacturer AESC, whose new facility currently has capacity to build 15.8GWh annually.
Guy Reid, engineering general manager at Sunderland, said: “We’ve future-proofed for the transition to fully electric vehicles – when the time comes.”
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