Nissan's £170m Sunderland deal backs a hybrid, not an electric Qashqai

Nissan will spend £170m building the Kicks crossover at Sunderland, but the car taking the plant’s newest production slot is a petrol-generator e-POWER hybrid, not the electric Qashqai promised in 2023. Nissan’s Europe chief has tied the plan to ministers cutting the 2030 zero-emission target to 50% or lower. For UK drivers, the deal keeps work flowing at the factory that builds the grant-eligible Leaf and the forthcoming electric Juke, while making clear that Nissan’s next new model in Britain is a hybrid.

Nissan announced the investment on 16 September, Motor Trader reported. The Kicks will be built for customers in the UK, Europe and Turkey, Nissan said, and becomes the 10th model made at Sunderland since the plant opened in 1986. It joins the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf on a site that has built 12 million vehicles and is part of Nissan’s EV36Zero hub, which combines car assembly, renewable power and battery manufacturing. Nissan says the deal helps secure around 6,000 jobs. It has not given a production start date.

Why is the Kicks not an electric car?

The Kicks uses Nissan’s third-generation e-POWER system. A petrol engine acts as a generator for an electric motor that drives the wheels, Motor Trade News explained. It cannot be plugged in, and it does not count as a zero-emission vehicle under the ZEV mandate.

In Japan, the Kicks e-POWER pairs a 1.4-litre three-cylinder petrol engine rated at 72kW with a 105kW front electric motor, plus an optional 50kW rear motor, Carscoops reported. European specifications, UK trims and prices have not been announced. As a hybrid, the Kicks will also sit outside the Electric Car Grant, which only applies to electric cars on the approved list.

What happened to the electric Qashqai?

In November 2023, Nissan said it would invest up to £1.12bn to build electric versions of the Qashqai and Juke at Sunderland, Malay Mail reported. The Juke half of that promise is on track. The Qashqai half is not: Nissan suspended development of the electric Qashqai in 2025, Just Auto reported, and Automotive Manufacturing Solutions reported that even if the project were revived, the car would not reach the market until the early 2030s.

	November 2023 plan	September 2026 plan
Investment	Up to £1.12bn	£170m
New models	Electric Qashqai and electric Juke	Kicks e-POWER
Zero-emission?	Yes, both	No
Status	Electric Juke due 2027; electric Qashqai suspended in 2025	Largely conditional on a ZEV mandate change

In short, 2023 promised to electrify Sunderland’s best-sellers; 2026 fills the line with a hybrid.

Why does Nissan want the ZEV mandate cut to 50%?

“A large part of this is subject to the ZEV mandate amendment,” Nissan’s European chief Max Messina said after the announcement, Autocar reported. He wants the 2030 target cut to 50% or less. The Department for Transport opened that review on 14 August and it closes at 11:59pm on 23 October; our guide to the ZEV mandate review explains what is on the table.

The logic is simple. Every Kicks sold in Britain would count on the wrong side of Nissan’s zero-emission ledger, so a high-volume hybrid is much easier to justify under a softer target. That makes the £170m as much a policy argument as a factory plan: Nissan has put a conditional investment on the table during an open review.

Nissan also pressed the government to put tariffs on Chinese cars, Eletric-vehicles.com reported, echoing an EU call for the UK to raise them that the Irish Times reported on 25 September (see our piece on UK tariffs on Chinese electric cars). Yet Nissan is also studying a deal to build Chery models at Sunderland, courting Chinese partners while seeking protection from Chinese rivals.

What will Sunderland build for EV buyers?

The electric side of the plant is intact. Nissan scheduled production of the new Nissan Leaf to start at Sunderland in December 2025, with deliveries from February 2026, and the 75kWh model was priced from £32,249 at launch after the full £3,750 Electric Car Grant, Nissan said. When those prices were set, the Leaf was one of only four models to get the top grant rate, with the rest of the list on £1,500, Autocar reported.

The all-electric Juke was unveiled in April, electrive reported. Reports at the reveal said build trials at Sunderland would begin within weeks, with full series production in early 2027 and a UK arrival in spring 2027. It will offer 52kWh and 75kWh batteries. Regit reported a range of up to 386 miles from the larger pack, while Honest John put it at 380 miles and reported vehicle-to-grid capability.

Model	Powertrain	Counts towards ZEV mandate?	Status	UK price
Leaf	Battery electric	Yes	On sale	From £32,249 at launch after £3,750 grant (75kWh)
Juke (third generation)	Battery electric, 52kWh or 75kWh	Yes	Series production early 2027, UK arrival spring 2027	Not announced
Qashqai	No electric version	No	In production; electric version suspended in 2025	No EV to price
Kicks	e-POWER petrol hybrid	No	No production start date given	Not announced

The Juke’s grant status is the open question. CarGurus expects prices from about £31,000 and thinks it is likely to qualify for the full grant because it will be built alongside the Leaf, but Nissan has confirmed neither.

What this means for you

If you want a British-built Nissan EV today, the Leaf is the only option, and with the 75kWh model launched at £32,249 after the full grant it is the obvious starting point in our guide to British-built electric cars. If you would rather have the Juke, the electric version is due in spring 2027, but wait for a confirmed price and grant decision before you plan around it.

If you were holding out for an electric Qashqai, stop waiting. On the reporting so far, it would not arrive before the early 2030s even if Nissan revived it, so shop the electric family SUVs already on sale instead.

Our view: the £170m is good news for Sunderland’s workforce, and nothing in it threatens the Leaf or the electric Juke. But it is not an EV investment, and Nissan has made even the hybrid conditional on a weaker mandate. Watch the ZEV review, which closes on 23 October: its outcome will say more about how many electric cars UK showrooms carry in 2030 than this factory announcement does.