| Nissan is to expand the production
of its Qashqai/Dualis mid-size crossover, adding new capacity at the Kyushu
plant in Japan to meet high local demand and freeing up more capacity
at its Sunderland plant in the UK for European sales.
Production at Kyushu of the vehicle, which is called the Dualis in Japan,
is expected to begin in early 2008 with production to reach 24,000 units
per year.
Global sales of the car have outperformed initial projections since its
European debut in February and launch in Japan in May. To-date, sales
of Dualis in Japan have reached 9,466 units while sales in Europe of Qashqai
are at 58,051 units.
The addition of the capacity in Kyushu will allow the Sunderland plant
to better meet the demand from the European market. In June, Nissan announced
a further ¥580 million investment in the Sunderland plant to increase
Qashqai production.
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