A testament to UK automotive design, engineering and production, last week marked the two millionth Nissan Qashqai produced at the manufacturer’s Sunderland plant.
Having rolled off the production line for the first time in December 2006, the Qashqai‘s manufacturing volume is the fastest-ever to reach two million in the UK. The scope and scale of Qashqai’s success is difficult to appreciate, so here are three facts that might help.
It’s hard to imagine what two million Qashqais look like (although, if you’re interested, it’s enough to fill the Stadium of Light pitch more than 2,500 times over. Consider instead that 459 Qashqais have been produced in Sunderland every day since December 2006 – enough to fill the Wearmouth Bridge every three hours.
It takes 11,000 UK workers to produce the Nissan Qashqai – from suppliers who produce the car’s cooling system, seats and plastic trim to designers, engineers and production technicians. If all of these people were to form a conga line, it would stretch over five miles – approximately the perimeter of Nissan Sunderland.
In total, Nissan has invested £534 million in the design, engineering and production of the Qashqai in the UK. That’s three-and-a-half times as much as Sunderland AFC has spent on player transfers in the same period.
