Nissan will build electric Qashqai and Juke models at its Sunderland factory alongside the next generation of the electric Leaf and create a new gigafactory for electric batteries in addition to the existing facility and the further gigafactory being built by AESC.

The announcement means the EV36Zero hub in Sunderland, Nissan's blueprint for future manufacturing, will consist of these three electric vehicles, three gigafactories and up to £3bn investment.

Both vehicle and battery manufacturing will be powered by the EV36Zero Microgrid, which will incorporate the wind and solar farms at Nissan and will have the capability to deliver 100 per cent renewable electricity to Nissan and its neighbouring suppliers.

Announcing the plans to colleagues at the Sunderland plant, Nissan president and CEO Makoto Uchida said: "The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain's biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe."

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