Nissan has added a second production shift at its manufacturing plant in Saint Petersburg.

This follows an upturn in the Russian market this year and rising demand for Nissan’s ‘made in Russia’ crossover and SUV models — the Qashqai, X-Trail and Murano (www.nissan.ru).

Igor Boytsov, Nissan vice-president for manufacturing in Russia, said: “The addition of a second shift at our Saint Petersburg plant reflects our positive outlook for the market in Russia.

“We welcome more than 450 new people to the team, and we look forward to further success for Nissan models engineered and built in Russia, specifically for Russian customers.”

The recruitment process saw more than 10,000 people apply for the new positions, which included manufacturing staff, team leaders and supervisors.

Nissan sales in Russia this year have followed the positive trend in the overall market, increasing by 2% in the first nine months (compared to last year) — to 52,525 vehicles, of which 32,037 were made in the Saint Petersburg plant.