Nissan ‘shelves all-electric Qashqai plans’ as it cuts costs

Nissan has reportedly stopped developing a fully electric version of its Qashqai, its top-selling model in Europe, as the Japanese carmaker looks to cut a fifth of its models and slash costs. The carmaker has quietly halted development of a full EV version of the Qashqai at Sunderland, the site of the UK’s largest car factory, last year, according to a report by Reuters. Nissan is now in talks with the government about securing financial support to plan the future of the plant in north-east England. The carmaker last month said it was closing one of its two production lines at Sunderland because of faltering demand for its vehicles. It said in April it was “looking at options” for the factory and its 6,000 workers. This includes potentially building cars for other manufacturers , with the company earlier this month signing a non-binding memorandum of understanding with China’s Chery to look at contract manufacturing vehicles. Nissan, which reported steep losses for the year to March , is in the midst of a drawn-out cost-cutting programme that has led to the closure of seven factories and 20,000 job losses. The company committed to building a full EV version of the Qashqai in 2023, with the government at the time saying the move showed the UK was a global electric vehicle manufacturing hub. Nissan already makes the fully electric Leaf at the plant and in April announced an all-electric Juke would be built there. …