Nissan unveils extra-large press for Qashqai production

Weighing over 2,000 tonnes, the new press is said to have taken 18 months to install and is part of a £400m investment by Nissan in readiness for the new, third-generation crossover SUV.

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The first specially commissioned panels on the press were produced on March 6, 2020, at a ceremony led by Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s COO.

“When the first Nissan Qashqai rolled off the line in Sunderland in 2006 it created the crossover segment,” Gupta said in a statement. “Designed, engineered and made in the UK, and more than three million vehicles later, it remains the benchmark, just as our team in the UK continues to set the standard for productivity and quality.”

The £53m investment in the press includes a recycling system to segregate and process scrap, and upgrades to the existing blanking line which will supply flat blanks to the extra-large press, which will stamp over six million vehicle panels a year.