Spain – An investment of €80m ($91m) has prepared the OEM's Barcelona plant for mass production of the new pick-up truck. It will soon be followed by one-tonne pick-ups for Renault and Mercedes-Benz, with all three models sharing some common architecture.
Engineered at Nissan’s Technical Centre (NTCE) in Barcelona, the NP300 features a new, 2.3-litre dCi engine plus noise and vibration, steering, suspension and brakes developed for the European market. The Cantabria plant, also in Spain, will manufacture parts including steering knuckles, brake discs and drums for the vehicle assembly at Barcelona, which has the capacity to produce around 120,000 units per year across all three brands. Ramp up to full production will require the recruitment of an additional 1,000 workers.
“The new product range in Barcelona points to a sustainable future for the plant and takes us towards our goal of producing 200,000 vehicles per year,” stated Frank Torres, managing director and vice-president of Nissan Spanish Industrial Operations. “In 17 months we have launched three vehicles successfully in Spain. As the quality output from this plant continues to improve, we are about to start the production of the fourth, the new NP300 Navara.” He said it would be “the beginning of our journey to becoming a premium plant”.