Nissan remains committed to the long-term future of its Sunderland factory, with the UK site a key element in its European electrification plans, according to its European planning boss, François Bailly.

The Japanese firm has pumped around £2 billion worth of investment into Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK (NMUK) to build the next-generation Leaf, Juke and Qashqai EVs, but there had been questions over its future when Nissan recently announced plans to close three factories by the end of 2026 as part of a major cost-cutting initiative.

Asked by Autocar whether the Sunderland plant’s future was safe, Bailly – who will shortly take over from new CEO Ivan Espinonsa as Nissan’s global product boss – said: “Yes, very safe. It’s the jewel of Europe, it’s where so many executives from Japanese manufacturing come, it’s the best-practice plant for us.

“At the same time, the ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate is making life very difficult for us. It’s not a Nissan question, it’s more a UK question: where is ZEV going? Where is the UK market going? That’s for the UK government to answer. But the future of NMUK is core to everything we do.”

Nissan has just revealed the first image of the third-generation Leaf, which will go into production at Sunderland and other global locations later this year.

The Juke EV will arrive next year, with a new teaser image (below) confirming that it will retain the radical styling of the bold Hyper Punk concept shown at the Tokyo motor show in 2023.

But while Nissan is committed to Sunderland eventually producing three electric models, the firm has hinted that the timeline and plans could be changed, due to the slowing growth in demand for EVs among European customers.

“In Europe, the end game is still written [in the regulations] to be carbon zero by 2035,” said Guillaume Cartier, Nissan’s performance officer. “Now the curve, which was linear, is now curving at a rate that is less pronounced than it used to be.

"We still have 10 years, so we need what we call two legs or a dual strategy: what are the cars that we can extend, and what are the technologies that we want to invest in.”

Cartier confirmed that the life of the current ICE Juke would be extended and it would continue to be manufactured at Sunderland alongside the new electric model.

The current Qashqai will soon be upgraded with a new version of Nissan’s e-Power hybrid powertrain that offers greater claimed efficiency and range, but the introduction date of its electric successor – tipped to be around 2028 – has been pushed back.

“We have chosen to delay the Qashqai EV until the time when the market will restart and we see that a bit later,” said Bailly. “It’s a mix of the customer appetite, the regulations and also the technology. What is the best technology for the next Qashqai? That is the TBC.”