Nissan's Sunderland plant hits 50,000 Leaf milestone

Sunderland's Nissan plant has built its 50,000th all-electric Leaf

Nissan's green revolution has reached a new milestone, with the 50,000th all-electric Leaf rolling off the production line at the Sunderland plant.

The silver Tekna grade car is destined for a customer in France.

Sunderland-built Leafs are exported to 23 global markets as diverse as Argentina, Iceland, Israel and Taiwan.

Nissan Europe chairman Paul Willcox said: “This milestone is another first for Nissan and for our team in Sunderland.

"No other brand has Nissan’s experience or expertise in both battery and vehicle production, and I’m thrilled over 50,000 customers in Europe share our vision for a zero-emission future."

Transport Minister Andrew Jones piad tribute to the achievement: “This major milestone is great news for Nissan and yet another example of Britain leading the way in developing cleaner vehicle technology, which is good for the environment and supports jobs and growth,” he said.

"Our goal is for nearly every car to be zero emission by 2050 and we are investing £600 million in electric vehicles to make this a reality."

Nissan Leaf and battery manufacturing supports more than 2,000 jobs at Nissan and in its UK suppliers.

The firm announced in January that it is to invest a further £26.5million in the Sunderland plant to build the next generation of electric vehicle batteries.