Nissan Sunderland Gets a Kick

Nissan Sunderland in the UK was making 500,000 cars up to 2014, then it slipped slightly below that before falling away from 2018. It now sits slightly below the 300,000 mark. It was just the Qashqai and Juke in 2025 and the Leaf is back in 2026. Still, the Leaf isn't of the volume of the other two, so the factory isn't running at optimal production levels.

To address that, the Kicks e-POWER small SUV will commence production there in 2027, aslthough I'm unsure when will exactly kick off. It makes sense to fully utilise a factory and this will help in that regard. 

Nissan and Chery are in early discussions about Chery also producing there, but that is still up in the air. I assume the plant is versatile enough to cope. It certainly has the total capacity. It's nice to see the plant alive and kicking. 

Nissan Global Deliveries : 2024-26 (H1)

Deliveries: They were -1% in 2024, -4% in 2005 and for H1 2026 -7%. That means just over two years of quarterly decreases but none of them large. 

Production: They have been -9% in 2024, -6% in 2025 and -8% in H1 2026. As deliveries are consistently higher than production, Renault and Mitsubishi produce some of their vehicles.

Data & Photo source: Nissan (Leaf, Juke EV & Qashqai).

Regional Production: The U.S. and Japan are the largest producers for Nissan in H1, 2026. Mexico has dropped to 19% of the total and China 17%. The U.K. is up to 10%. 78% of the total manufacturing is made outside of Japan. 

Regional Sales: They are down 7% with 86% outside of Japan. North America accounted for 44% of the total deliveries. China is down to 16% and while Europe is up to 11%, that surely has potential for improvement. 

Nissan/Infiniti Europe Model Sales: 2025-26 (H1)

Nissan release European sales, unlike virtually everyone else. Overall sales are down 12% YTD. 

The Qashqai SUV is the mainstay of the range, making up 50% of the total and about the same as last year. 

Below on the chart are the Juke (Pic above) and X-trail both well down. The new Micra EV is based on the Renault 5 E-Tech and is doing well so far. Meanwhile the Ariya isn't. 

The Leaf doesn't look too good but nearly all the 2026 sales so far were in June. The Primastar van (pic below) is sourced from Renault and is holding its own. 

Infiniti is a boutique marque in Europe but has increased 114%, from virtually no deliveries to very few. Still, going in the right direction. 

Data & picture source: Nissan.

Nissan Deliveries/Production 2018-2023

Datsun once rivaled Toyota in size and reputation. It became Nissan from 1981 to 1984. The company lost its way, so in 1999 Renault intervened and took control of Nissan. Carlos Ghosn became the CEO of Nissan and quickly turned it into a profitable company again. Then in 2005, took over leadership of Renault-Nissan as a whole. 

Nissan executives were unhappy with Carlos Ghosn and had him arrested in late 2018. They then took a very different direction, cutting back on volume yet Nissan's financial situation deteriorated drastically. Recent discussions with collaboration with Honda came to nothing. 

Looking at the 2018 to 2020 deliveries and production chart shows the move away from volume for the latter two years. Pulling back on less profitable sales should improve the bottom line but in this case it got worse. 

I also wonder how the deliveries were consistently higher than production over consecutive years. I've tried to find out why and have yet to clarify that. For example btween 2017 and 2021, the disparity was over 1.3 million favouring deliveries.

Things seemed to settle down in 2021, then a slump in 2022 and a slight increase in 2023. Still, a drop of nearly 2.3 million deliveries from 2018 to 2023 was seismic. Yet at the end of it all, losses had mounted. Cutting back on lower margin sales should have helped. Maybe Carlos was on to something. 

Data source: Nissan. Pics: NetCarShow (2019 Maxima & 2022 Qashqai).

The UK's Most Reliable Used Car

It may come as no surprise that it was an electric car. They have fewer components, so they should be more reliable. The data from the Warranty Solutions Group revealed the model at the top of their list, with a fault rate of just 1.52%, was the Nissan Leaf. So well done Nissan.

Is there a downside to electric car ownership? Fixing the faults tends to be more expensive on electric cars. Battery pack damage can require full replacement. High-voltage systems add costs and maybe insurance costs are higher as a result. 

There are many factors to consider regarding car ownership costs. Still, overall electric are less likely to require repairs so unlikely to incur repair bills in the first place. For most people, fully electric vehicles aren't for them but anyone who can accommodate ownership of one will find them reilable, especially if it is a Nissan Leaf, it seems. 

Nissan/Infiniti Model Euro Sales : 2024-25

Sales were down 3% for the two brands Nissan uses in Europe, so nothing to speak of. Infiniti was pulled from Europe some years back but a few are still being sold.

The Qashqai and Juke models do the heavy lifting and combined accounted for 73% of sales. 

The Leaf will be returning in 2026 and that will help things along. It slots nicely under the larger Ariya.

Nissan plans to have virtually all of its sales in the region for either electric or hybrid vehicles by the end of 2026.    

Data & photo source: Nissan. 

Turning Over A New Leaf

Electric car sales are not booming globally despite many governments offering incentives to buy. The Leaf has spearheaded Nissan's BEV efforts and it has been well received. The model has been manufactured at three sites as seen below. 

The data is not provided by Nissan so accuracy is reliant on other parties. A few may have been produced in 2010. Sources mention over 650,000 having been produced and these figures indicated the 700k mark may have been reached. 

Two series have been produced so far as the change in colour in the Year column indicates. 300,000 for Series 1 and 400,000 for Series 2.

Series three is coming after a slight break and it appears to be well executed. It majors on a nice interior and has a good mileage range per charge. It certainly would be on my shopping list if I was looking for an electric car, which I'm not. 

With the problems Nissan is currently facing, hopefully this new model will indeed help them to turn over a new leaf.

The Honda - Nissan Merger

The car industry is in for a major shake up. Global sales are down yet many new brands are surfacing, putting pressure on many companies to cut costs to remain competitive yet also be profitable. Not all will manage that successfully, leading to some takeovers or mergers.

Takeovers work better because the absorbed brand has to do what the new owner wants. PSA bought Opel and the transition went well. Mergers or joint ventures are more tricky because who is going to make critical decisions? Renault's alliance with Nissan worked as Renault pulled the strings. 

Recently the Renault-Nissan alliance terms were renegotiated to among other things rebalance the partnership, creating greater autonomy for Nissan. Such an arrangement is harder to make work but was agreed to. 

How did Mitsubishi get involved in the alliance? In 2016, Nissan took a major stake in Mitsubishi which was embroiled in a scandal. That effectively brought it into the alliance but with little if any say. 

Despite the changes, things for the Nissan company were not going well so with profits tumbling, it entered talks with Honda for a merger. Those talks recently broke down when the terms from Honda would make Nissan a subsidiary, seemingly not unlike the former Renault situation. That was rejected by the Nissan CEO. 

Now the Nissan CEO has resigned, Honda says it is willing to restart talks. Who knows how they will go but with Honda the more secure company financially, it seems a deal will depend on it having most of the say. Nissan may not want that but it isn't bargaining from a position of strength. 

Nissan Global Production & Sales : 2023/24

Nissan is open with its global data, something few companies are so hats off to them for that. The data below includes Nissan, Infiniti and the Venucia/DongFeng joint venture in China. First, we look at production by country and then sales by region. 

Production: Over the last two years there has been a shift in where Nissan vehicles are made. More precisely, Mexico and China. The former has increased from 12% of the total to 21%, eclipsing China as the largest manufacturing country for Nissan. China has dropped from 33% to 21% so has now gone below Japan into third. 

Total production was down 9%, based on lower Chinese volume. Despite that, overseas production is up at 79%, high by Japanese car company standards. The top three production nations are all 21% for 2024. 

Regional sales: It follows production as one would likely expect. China isn't as important as it used to be and managing the decline in that market while maintaining solid global sales figures is impressive. Japanese sales contribute 14% of the total, a percentage that's been held for the past three years. 

In 2023, production exceeded sales by 70,000 units. For 2024, it swung the other way to 219,600 so a large reduction in stock levels.  

For Nissan/Infiniti Europe Sales 2024 by model, simply click here. 

For Nissan/Infiniti USA Sales 2024 by model, simply click here. 

Data & picture source: Nissan. 

Nissan / Infiniti Sales Europe : 2023/24

Nissan has recently made this data available so in a world where many manufacturers are too sensitive to offer information of this sort, well done Nissan. They join Toyota in this (click here to view it).

Nissan: Registrations have grown 24% over the past two years and that has been achieved with a pruned down range. The Qashqai and Juke are the two main models with the X-Trail not too fat behind. The Ariya EV (right) has effectively replaced the Leaf which has been discontinued in Europe.

Nissan has got into a range of vans sourced from Renault. It ended production of its own light commercials in Europe and the switch seems to have been successful. The Townstar is pictured below. The latest names for the vans are used in the list. 

Infiniti: There were high hopes for the marque in Europe with a push around 2016 and 2017, spearheaded by the QX / QX30. Then an about turn of giving up on that almost as quickly as it was started. 2023 was a low point for sales but in 2024 a slight upturn. The QX80 (below) is the leading model.

I assume it was soon realised that winning over European buyers of premium cars is a long haul project that was underestimated. The right decision was made as it was too ambitious. With a more measured approach and more realistic goals, the marque still has a place in Europe if Nissan want that. 

Data source: Nissan Group.

Nissan / Infiniti US Model Sales : 2023/24

Nissan sales for the year were up 4% which is not bad in the current climate. Infiniti was down 10% though. So how did sales by model go? The data source is Nissan and the photos are by Nissan and Infiniti.

Nissan: The Rogue is the main model with 31% of all sales and despite it being down 9.5%, it didn't stop the brand from increasing. The facelift Sentra (pictured above) was up 40% so that was a huge help. The Versa was up 72% and the Ariya 47%.

Some of the smaller selling models were the ones that went down the most. The Murano (-38%) is soon to be replaced with a new generation model. The Armada (-28%) dropped its base model which seems to have affected volume. 

The Titan pick up truck (-24%) is being dropped altogether. The Maxima sedan has been axed but will be replaced with an electric model that's coming in 2025. 

Infiniti: The marque's sales were down 10% which wasn't an impressive result. With Acura selling over 130,000 units, I would have thought Infiniti's 58,000 is a fair way short of where it should be. 

Over 153,000 Infiniti vehicles were sold in 2017, so the fall since then has been dramatic. Perhaps they were pushing volume too much back then. 

The QX50 compact crossover (picture above) was up 8% but the rest were down to varying degrees. A new QX80 large SUV is coming so that would explain the 19% drop there. The QX55 crossover coupe's sales dropped -31% and the Q60 coupe is discontinued. 

Nissan/Infiniti Prod/Sales (By Nation/Region) : 2021-23

Nissan and Infiniti's production was +6% and sales were +5%. With most manufacturers increasing post Covid, this doesn't sound very good. However, there is a good reason for it as we will see.

Production: There are five main producing nations Nissan separates data for, the rest coming under Other. China is the largest but volume was -26% and it was nearly toppled as the largest producer for Nissan. Japan was +28%, the U.S. +12%, Mexico +58%, the U.K. +37% with the remainder -14%. China could have put a real damper on things but all the other mentioned nations negated that with strong growth. 

Data Source: Nissan. 

Sales: North America has moved swiftly past China, the former with a sales surge of +26% and the latter -24%. The days of huge sales success for Western car makers in China are coming to an end as they become increasingly marginalised. As for the rest, Europe was +20% with Japan up 7% and Others +12%. 

Summary: Nissan China has slumped while the rest of the world is doing well. Its share of Nissan's global sales have fallen from 34% to 24% in just two years. Put another way, sales dropped by 251,600 in China but the total was up 149,400. Is it a big deal to lose sales in China? Personally, I think that is a good thing although Nissan may see that differently. 

Nissan Model Sales Japan : 2021-22

Nissan's domestic market share went from 10% to 11% so a more than useful improvement. Nissan's Kei car range gained a model but still slipped slightly to 38% of all Nissan sales. The minus in Others is minimal but with two data sources converging...

The Models: 

Of note was the..er..Note (pictured above) which went up 20,000 in sales. The crossover MPV Roox did well but did fall back somewhat. The Serena MPV held steady but the Dayz hatchback followed the Roox. 

The new Sakura EV (pictured above right) is basically an electric Roox and is shared with Mitsubishi (as the eK Cross EV). Then the Kicks and X-Trail are in the 18,000 bracket and the Leaf about 5,000 shy of that. The new Ariya (picture below the chart) is another electric vehicle that's been added to the range.

Summary: The brand is not the serious challenge it once was to Toyota but its nevertheless a strong performer among the brands that look up to the Big T.  

11 Million Nissans

The Nissan Sunderland, UK, plant may not have happened if a minister who tried to stop the government grant to sweeten the deal had got his way. The person within government responsible for the backtrack was overruled by PM Thatcher and the promised assistance was delivered.

The first cars rolled off the production line in 1986. The Bluebird was the first model which became the Primera in 1990. The Micra became the second model in 1992 and the one million mark was reached at the beginning of 1995. The Almera hatchback became the third model in 2000.

In 2006 the Primera and Almera were retired and were replaced by the Qashqai and Note models. Micra production was moved to France, replaced by the Juke and a couple of tears later the Leaf was introduced. The Note was phased out, leaving three models in 2017 and that is the case today. 

The plant today services 137 markets, directly employs 6,000 ithe another 30,000 in the UK supply chain. Nissan also makes the Qashqai and Juke hybrid models along with a move to 100% renewable energy being used by Sunderland plant and suppliers. The Qashqai hybrid is shown below. 

For production by model up until 2014, please click here.

Nissan Sunderland's New Battery Plant

Stellantis has come out and said that its commitment to electric vehicles made in the UK is under threat due to an EU edict. It is that all cars exported from the UK to the EU must eventually have 65% UK/EU content or face 10% duties. I don't know why such a rule was insisted upon. 

What is of interest is that Nissan is pressing ahead with electric vehicle production in Sunderland, UK despite the machinations of politicians. How is Nissan achieving this? Through a battery plant built adjacent to the car assembly facility. Make no mistake, this is a substantial commitment by Nissan and its project partners. 

Nissan has made the Leaf model in the UK since late 2012 and making batteries for it at its Sunderland plant. This new initiative will take battery production capacity to another level. A new crossover electric model is to be produced at the plant with up to 100,000 units to be made per annum. 

It all comes down to the scale of production that allows for such investment. Stellantis' production in the UK isn't large and importing batteries is the way for them. JLR has been courted by Spain to acquire batteries from there but a plant to be located in Summerset, UK may now be the more likely outcome. Perhaps Stellantis could be involved with that. 

As for the Leaf, over 250,000 have now been built in the UK. The chart shows annual production volume and one would think that the push for electric cars in the UK and Europe would ensure continued healthy production for the Leaf as well as the future crossover model. Battery plants are needed and Nissan Sunderland has that box ticked.