Nissan Sunderland plant wins Queen's Award

Nissan's factory at Sunderland has been awarded the Queen's Award for continued achievement in International Trade. The Queen's Awards for Enterprise are the UK's most prestigious awards for business performance, recognising and rewarding outstanding achievement by UK based companies.

Nissan currently exports 80 per cent of its cars to 97 worldwide markets from Sunderland; markets include mainland Europe, New Zealand, Dubai and Central Africa.

Nissan’s vice president for Manufacturing in the UK, Kevin Fitzpatrick said: “Winning the Queen’s Award rounds off what has been an exceptional start to 2012 for the plant with the announcement of two new models and a major recruitment campaign.

“The award recognises the quality of the products we make at the plant, Qashqai, Juke and Note. The continued motivation, commitment and flexibility of the Sunderland plant workforce is the reason why we win these awards, combined with successful products and the ability to react to market demand.”

This is the fifth time the plant has won the award in its 26 year history, including a three year consecutive run from 1992 to 1994. The next two years will see Nissan Sunderland Plant launch four new products, which include the company’s first 100 per cent electric vehicle, the Nissan LEAF, with production capacity set to grow beyond 550,000 units.