9:41 am, September 7, 2017
NISSAN has confirmed that the new Leaf will be built at its UK production facility in Sunderland.
The electric vehicle, which was revealed yesterday, will also be produced at sites in Smyrna, Tennessee, and at Nissan’s Oppama plant in Japan.
Work will start on the new model by the end of this year.
Fumiaki Matsumoto, executive vice-president of manufacturing and supply chain management operations at Nissan, said: ‘We’re proud to continue manufacturing the Nissan Leaf at three plants globally.
‘The Nissan Leaf is the icon of Nissan Intelligent Mobility with its many advanced technologies. Nissan employees in Oppama, Smyrna and Sunderland are excited to continue producing the most popular electric vehicle in the world.’
The new vehicle features greatly improved range, recording a distance of 235 miles on a single charge during official testing. Its predecessor’s quoted range was 155 miles in top-spec guise.
The EV will also benefit from Nissan Intelligent Driving technology, which includes semi-autonomous systems that will make driving ‘easier, less stressful and more relaxing’, says Nissan.
The Japanese manufacturer has confirmed that the new EV will go on sale in Japan on October 2 and ‘in the coming months’ in the US, Canada and Europe. Pricing is yet to be revealed.
MORE: 50,000th Nissan Leaf rolls off Sunderland production line
MORE: Leaf sales power ahead after third generation arrives in showrooms
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