Nissan invests £170m to build Kicks SUV in Sunderland

Nissan is investing £170m in its Sunderland plant to build the B-segment Kicks SUV with e-Power hybrid drive for the European market for the first time; it will roll off the line alongside the Qashqai, Juke and Leaf as the tenth model built at Sunderland since 1986. No new-jobs figure was given; according to just-auto the plant directly employs around 6,000 people (Motor Trader, 16 Sep 2026; just-auto, 16 Sep 2026).