Nissan Halts Electric Qashqai Development to Streamline Lineup and Cut Costs

Nissan has halted development of the all-electric Qashqai as part of efforts to streamline its product lineup and reduce costs. The Qashqai is Nissan’s best-selling model in Europe, accounting for approximately 45% of the roughly 330,000 vehicles the company expects to sell in the region in 2025. According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the project was paused as early as early 2023, despite Nissan’s earlier commitment in 2023 to produce the model at its Sunderland plant in the UK. Even if the project were to resume in the future, the all-electric Qashqai would not reach the market until the early 2030s at the earliest. The European EV market is becoming increasingly competitive, with a surge of affordable models—including offerings from Chinese brands—flooding the market. Nissan has not directly confirmed the cancellation of the all-electric Qashqai project, stating only that it will continue expanding its “electrified” vehicle lineup, which includes hybrids, and pursue a “balanced” electrification strategy to address significant fluctuations in demand for pure battery-electric vehicles in Europe. The Sunderland plant, located in northeast England, employs around 6,000 people. Additional funding from the UK government will be tied to the launch of new models and job security at the facility. Furthermore, Nissan announced this month an agreement with Chery to explore using one of Sunderland’s production lines to manufacture Chery-branded vehicles.