Nissan has reported that the two millionth Qashqai rolled off the production line at its Sunderland plant earlier this month.

The Japanese automotive group reached this milestone in less than eight years, “quicker than any other model” in the history of UK car making.
Designed at Nissan’s facilities in London and Cranfield for European customers, the new-generation model was launched in January and was named 2014 Car of the Year by What Car? magazine.

Paul Willcox, chairman of Nissan Europe, said: “The Qashqai is helping Nissan to go from strength to strength in Europe. Two million customers can’t be wrong, and this is further evidence of their trust in our brand. I congratulate all my colleagues in Sunderland for reaching this latest milestone.

“The Qashqai is one of 12 new models that we have launched in the past 12 months in Europe, which has given Nissan the strongest and most cohesive line-up in our history.”

Nissan has invested £534 million in the design, development and production of the Qashqai in the UK, supporting more than 11,000 jobs in the UK car industry.

Of the two million made in Sunderland since December 2006, 85% (1,706,633) have been exported to 132 international markets. Total global production of the Qashqai has now exceeded 2.5 million.

The first-generation Qashqai was also made in China and Japan. The new Qashqai will also be manufactured at Nissan’s plant in St Petersburg for the Russian market.

The Qashqai is now closing in on the Micra as the highest-volume car in the history of the Sunderland plant, with 2,368,704 Micras made there between 1992 and 2010.