Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd, or NMUK, is a car manufacturing plant in Washington, Tyne and Wear. It is owned and operated by the European division of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan.
1981 Launched the Nissan Violet.[1]
1985 December McAlpines handed over the completed factory building, built on the site of the former RAF Usworth, to Nissan for the installation of machinery and factory components, ahead of schedule. Phase 1 of the plant construction was completed in July 1986, consisting of a body, paint and final assembly line.
1986 The plant began operation
Early 2000s: this was a period of growth for the plant, with contracts to build the updated Almera, thereby becoming a three-model plant, and continuation of the Micra and Primera model changes. A fourth body style for the plant was introduced with the Micra C+C.
2005 Nissan Motor Limited purchased additional shares in Calsonic Kansei Corporation (owners of Calsonic Automotive Products) increasing Nissan's share holding from 27.6 percent to 41.7 percent - Calsonic Kansei Corporation was then consolidated as a subsidiary of the Nissan group[2]
2006 Introduction of the Note model, in place of the Almera, and the introduction of the Qashqai. At this point, NMUK had built a reputation for being the most efficient plant in Europe.
By 2008, the falling sales of the Primera led to its demise, with the Qashqai becoming the hero model for the plant, with such a high demand that a night shift was introduced to keep up. The Primera had the distinction of being the first model built at NMUK to be exported to the Japanese market. Nearly 5,000 workers were employed at the plant by this stage; however 1,200 of them were made redundant in January 2009 as a result on the onset of the recession which saw demand for new cars slump
2015 Reported to employ 6,700 persons at Sunderland.