On Friday, the last Micra to be produced at Nissan's Sunderland plant in the UK, rolled off the assembly line marking the end of an era stretching back to the early Nineties. The very first Sunderland-built Micra came to life on August 10, 1992. The UK plant went on to produce 2,368,704 Micras (two generation models) over the next 18 years, which is more than 40% of all cars built at the plant since production began in 1986.
Even though Nissan has already introduced a successor to Micra, production will take place in other plants around the world including Thailand, India, Mexico and China. In its place, the Sunderland factory will build the all-new Juke small crossover.
Kevin Fitzpatrick, VP Manufacturing UK said: "I think everyone will be sorry to see the last Micra come off the line. When you produce a model for as long as we have produced Micra, it almost becomes part of your plant's identity."
"There is no doubt that Micra has been a tremendous success for us and a production run of well over two million units is astounding, but like all plants we are constantly changing and updating our model mix."
"Micra's departure frees up capacity on our lines meaning we can now look forward to producing the Juke in August. Although Micra is a tough act to follow, Juke is a very exciting prospect. By combining the best attributes from a compact SUV and a sports car, it will inject something truly original into the small car segment."
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