Nissan, Toyota and Honda named ‘a great UK-Japan success story’

The three concerns are being hailed as “a great UK-Japan success story”. So successful, that one plant has started making cars to be exported to Japan’s home market.

Nissan

Nissan is recruiting 800 extra workers for its huge assembly plant in Sunderland, England, in order to staff a third production shift to meet growing demand.

Nissan is now the UK’s largest car producer and exporter, followed closely by Toyota, with Honda fourth in the output league table.

Nissan’s massive production plant at Sunderland, north-east England is made up of eight volume car manufacturers and more specialist car makers than any other European country.

Nissan in Sunderland is a great UK-Japan success story

Alistair Darling

UK Chancellor

Barclays Capital

Since its opening in Sunderland in 1984, the company has invested more than 2.4 billion pounds in an operation that has produced 4.8 million vehicles.

The extra shift will also enable the Nissan workforce to combine the assembly of the Qashqai with a version to be known as the Dualis that is destined for Japan’s home market and has just gone into production at Sunderland.

Nissan’s Trevor Mann said of the company’s recruitment campaign: “This level of recruitment in the western Europe car manufacturing sector is rare and reflects the ongoing commitment that Nissan has in its UK operation.”

During his recent visit to the plant to see the start of production of another model of the successful Qashqai hatchback/sports utility vehicle, Alistair Darling, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated: “Nissan in Sunderland is a great UK-Japan success story.”

Honda

Honda has also given the go-ahead for a further 80 million pounds investment in new facilities at its UK production centre.

The concern introduced another work shift and recruited 700 more workers at its production plant at Swindon, south-west England, in order to meet demand for its new Civic model.

The company has now invested a total of 1.33 billion pounds in its UK operations where it has a workforce of 5,000.

Honda has been manufacturing at Swindon, Wiltshire, for 22 years and in February 2008 the plant celebrated completion of the two-millionth car, plus a 25 per cent increase in production volume in the space of 18 months.

This enables the plant to cast diesel blocks independently, a process that until now has only been carried out at Honda, Japan.

Another 50 million pounds is also being invested in welding and paint production technology, as well as changes to increase efficiency and the flexibility of production.

Toyota

Toyota’s latest development confirms that the concern is to invest almost another 90 million pounds at its 46-hectare engine plant in north Wales to enable it to introduce a new small petrol engine.

Toyota’s development of a new four-cylinder, 1.3-litre petrol engine at a cost of 88 million pounds at its engine plant in Deeside, north Wales, is the second major investment there over the past year.

This is in addition to the 700 million pounds already invested in the Deeside operation since it started in 1992.

The plant currently produces three petrol engines at a rate of 185,000 a year, while Toyota’s largest European vehicle manufacturing centre at Burnaston, Midlands, assembled 277,854 Auris and Avensis cars in 2007.Up to now, Toyota has spent more than 1.85 billion pounds over the past 15 years on its UK operations that involve a workforce of nearly 5,000.

Nissan in Sunderland is a great UK-Japan success story

Tokuichi Uranishi

The Executive Vice President

Toyota Motor Corporation

In addition to the 185,000 fully assembled engines produced for the Burnaston vehicles, the Deeside plant also carries out casting and machining of engine sets for export to Toyota factories for assembly in countries such as Venezuela, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa and the Toyota home market of Japan.

The executive vice-president of Toyota Motor Corporation, Mr Tokuichi Uranishi, commented: “This announcement recognises the quality of the UK workforce and demonstrates Toyota’s confidence in our UK investment and continued efforts towards local production.

“This new engine, along with the recent investment here at Deeside, means this plant will have two of the most advanced engine manufacturing lines in the world.”

UK as a springboard to international markets

These investments are the result of the companies’ success in using the UK as a springboard to markets across Europe and beyond.

That has ensured that the UK remains a world-class centre for the industry with an annual output of about 1.5 million cars, three quarters of which are destined for export.

This Japanese expansion in the European automotive scene has led to investments in UK-based plants totalling more than 5.5 billion pounds and jobs for more than 15,000 people directly involved in manufacturing plus many more thousands in supporting companies.

In all, the UK auto industry now employs more than 800,000, has a turnover of nearly 50 billion pounds and exports products worth a total of more than 23 billion pounds.

Since its European launch in March 2007, Qashqai sales have reached 130,000 vehicles and, as a result, the company boosted production by 20 per cent to help the Sunderland output reach a record volume of 353,000 cars a year.

Swindon can produce up to 250,000 vehicles a year, exports to 60 countries, and is being equipped with a 16m pounds casting facility for its engine building under an 80 million pounds investment programme.