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Japan since last October and the fi rst American versions will be available at the end of next year from a new factory in Smyrna, Tennessee. Sunderland was chosen as the third manufacturer in March 2010. “With my European role I could make a proposal where it should happen,” says Mann. “But the decision was made in Japan.” However, just as Sunderland was not an automatic choice, it did not follow that the car had to be built in the same place as the batteries that will power it. “The competition was extremely high on Leaf and the associated battery investment,” states Mann. “There were lots of governments interested in attracting this technology. We competed in the best way we could and were supported by UK Government with a grant of about £20m. That tipped the balance.” Mann personally dealt with ministers in Spain and Portugal, as well as the UK. “In Europe we all play by the same rules, as dictated by Brussels, but some regions can be rewarded because they are deprived,” he explains. “The UK government plays a straight bat.” However, he explains: “It’s not just about money. It’s also about technical capability”. That quarter of a century spent producing Bluebird, Primera, Micra and other models at Sunderland, thus helped. “We have a record of excellence here,” he says. Nissan’s Sunderland site is widely acclaimed as the country’s most productive vehicle plant – becoming in 2010 the fi rst to complete more than 400,000 vehicles in a year, with four out of fi ve of those cars sold abroad. The UK plant will produce batteries as well as Leafs, but there will also be a battery plant in Portugal – both will also supply power units to Renault which has cross-shareholdings with Nissan. That is particularly important for the northeast because, while the Leaf will probably replace existing Qashqai and Note models on one current production line as sales fall, the £420m investment in the British unit is a totally new facility. “That means 350 new jobs and they are quite technical,” says Mann. “They’re completely new jobs that have been created.”

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Andrew Sugden, policy director at the North East Chamber of Commerce, says: “It’s hard to overstate the impact of Nissan on the northeast economy. Time and again they are at the forefront of everything that is good in the region. They have a truly committed and talented workforce and strong management at the Wearside plant.” Nissan originally took workers from the coal and shipbuilding sectors; now it supports the government’s Talent Retention Solution scheme and is able to take on trained engineers from defence and other companies that are shedding staff. It employs more than 4,000 staff but it supports thousands more jobs in the local economy. Each model has around 200 companies providing components – some abroad – but Mann boasts that 40 per cent of the cost of bought-in parts goes to suppliers based within four miles of the Sunderland plant. “We’ll be sourcing for Leaf around September and October,” he explains. “Many will be existing suppliers and there will be more to come.” These should include Gateshead-based Sevcon, which makes motors and controls for zero-emission vehicles plus foreign-owned suppliers with local operations such as TI Automotive, Johnson Controls, Unipress and Hashimoto. Small companies are benefi ting too. Paul Stonebanks set up Advanced Industrial Solutions at North Shields in 2006 providing specialist training for working at heights and in confi ned spaces: his fi rm has been chosen to train Nissan’s maintenance engineers. Other customers include Smiths Electric Vehicles, and Liberty Electric Cars.

Mann is grateful for the government support he received. “We have a long working relationship with government and even though administrations change, the offi cials remain the same. They know us and we know them and we know what processes we have to go through,” he says. “Leaf was complicated: there were a lot more players than normal but I was very happy with the support we got.” Thanks to this amazing car, the northeast is buzzing. ■

“Nissan is an important inward investment for the UK but it is also an important UK exporter. It is currently sending about 300,000 cars abroad a year,” says David Coppock, UK Trade and Investment’s international trade director in the north east who helped bring the Leaf to Sunderland. Until that plant opens, the electric cars are being imported into Britain: from 2013, the balance of trade will switch and the UK will export Leafs.

Sunderland will have a capacity of 50,000 Leafs a year - the same as Nissan’s factory at Oppama Japan. But the UK plant will be producing 60,000 batteries as it will make them for Continental manufacturers too. “The exciting thing for us is that the lithium-ion battery facility will be in Sunderland and that will be for supplying Europe,” says Coppock. “All Nissan’s exports

are sent through the dock at Port of Tyne,” says Coppock. “The company is a signifi cant exporter for the UK. It’s a huge stimulus to the local economy. We’re getting good investment in the supply chain and we’re getting a spin out. We seem to be getting quite a lot of interest in and around the area and Nissan has stimulated that. We’ve got a strong wind-power agenda and other electric vehicle manufacturers. The difference to the local economy is very signifi cant.”

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