Nissan Motor to invest $315 million in UK Qashqai

To invest 192 million pounds on new Qashqai model.
UK welcomes investment, seeking to boost manufacturing.

Nissan Motor is to invest $315 million in Britain on the next version of its Qashqai model, the Japanese carmaker said on Wednesday, delivering a welcome boost to British manufacturing.

The new Qashqai, a crossover that blends the elements of SUV and hatchback before being built at Nissan’s plant in Sunderland, northeast England will be developed at a design centre in London and a technical centre in southern England.

Nissan Motor chief executive Carlos Ghosn after meeting Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced the investment saying it would safeguard 6,000 jobs, both directly and in the supply chain.

The British government welcomed the announcement as it fits with its strategy of trying to lift manufacturing as the country struggles to recover from the financial crisis and ensuing recession. Manufacturing makes up 13% of the economy.

The car industry in Britain is now largely foreign owned still it employs more than 700,000 people and accounts for more than 10% of exports which has an annual value of around 25 billion pounds.

Business Secretary Vince Cable will visit Detroit next week to meet executives from Ford and General Motors to press the case for further investment in Britain.

He met with Nissan executives in Japan last week. Cable is particularly targeting investment in production of electric and other low-carbon vehicles.

Nissan also produces the Note and Juke cars at its Sunderland plant, 80% of whose output is exported. It is already investing 420 million pounds for the production of the LEAF electronic car in Sunderland from 2013.