Interview: Judith Richardson, Vice-president Purchasing, Nissan Europe

“It’ll be the same when we look to launch new technologies, that will prompt a search for new suppliers. We’ll have to look at who’s out there and what they’re doing.”

Nissan Europe has enjoyed considerable success over recent years. Most recently, demand for the Qashqai crossover has prompted the OEM to spend GBP22 million to expand production across both assembly lines at the Sunderland, UK plant. This will see the SUV manufactured alongside the new Infiniti Q30 hatchback, launched into production in 2015 after a total GBP250 million investment. Looking forward, GBP100 million is supporting development and preparations for production of the second-generation Juke crossover, due for launch in 2018.