Nissan Qashqai : 0 to 500,000 production units in just 21 months!

Kuala Lumpur: Nissan celebrates its 500,000th Qashqai rolling off the production line in Sunderland, UK. In a record-breaking 21 months, Nissan’s pioneering flagship Crossover has become the fastest ever UK-built vehicle to smash the half million production mark.

The announcement sees the Nissan Qashqai beat previous records set by the Mk1 Ford Cortina, which needed 34 months to hit the half million landmark, and the Austin/Morris 1100/1300, which reached the same total in 29 months.

“The Nissan Qashqai is going from strength to strength,” commented Nissan Europe chairman, Paul Willcox. “Half a million Qashqais in just 21 months is an astonishing achievement and proof that the Qashqai is hitting the spot with buyers. Together with the pioneering first generation version, there are now more than 2.5 million Qashqais on the road in Europe, making Nissan the undisputed leader in the Crossover sector,” he added.

Since Nissan start of production in January 2014, a new Qashqai has been built every 62 seconds on the Sunderland factory's Line 1, with nearly 100,000 of these being delivered within the UK. Qashqai is the best-selling crossover in Europe, with the UK being its leading market followed by Italy and Germany. However, Nissan doesn’t sell the Qashqai only in Europe. Although originally designed for the European market, the crossover is offered in 84 countries worldwide including Uganda, Zambia, and Saint Kitts.

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On Qashqai's presence at the global level, Mr. Paul Willcox said, “Our position in terms of competitiveness is driven by not only the situation in Europe in terms of whether we are in or out of the EU but more importantly by the commitment of the people we have in the North East and the supply chain we have in the UK.”

Total global production of the Qashqai now tops 2.5 million units. From late autumn 2015 the new Qashqai will also be manufactured in St. Petersburg for domestic sales in Russia in the near future.

Nissan Motor (GB) had celebrated this milestone at an event in central London yesterday. Hosted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the event was designed to showcase the importance of the UK automotive industry ahead of the 66th Frankfurt Motor Show.

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