This morning, Nissan announced that it will build its Leaf EV at its Sunderland, United Kingdom, assembly plant in addition to the automaker’s already-confirmed plans to assemble the car in Japan and Tennessee.
The UK facility will build Leafs primarily for the European market with an initial annual capacity of about 50,000 units. The automaker says it is pumping about $646 million into the Sunderland facility thanks to a roughly $30 million government Grand for Business Investment financing package.
The Sunderland plant currently builds Nissan ’s Qashqai, Note and Micra. UK production of the Leaf is expected to ramp up in 2013, although the European market will initially source its Leafs from the automaker’s Oppama, Japan, facility.
