Nissan to announce UK investment

Japanese car giant Nissan is expected to announce a new generation of electric cars to be built at its Sunderland plant that could save at least 4,000 jobs.┬á  A joint announcement is expected from Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, who is due to visit the plant today, and NissanÔÇÖs vice president Trevor Mann. Lord Mandelson is expected to tell some of the factoryÔÇÖs 4,200 workers of the creation of a "low-carbon economic area" in the North East of the country. In April, the European Investment Bank approved funding totaling hundreds of millions of pounds for NissanÔÇÖs UK and Spanish operations to produce low-carbon emission vehicles.┬á A rival Nissan factory in Barcelona was competing against the Sunderland plant to start production of the new cars. Nissan and its partner Renault plan to launch electric cars in the US and Japan from 2010, and across the rest of the world from 2012. In a similar move last week, Toyota said it would start making its new Auris hybrid vehicle at its Derbyshire plant from mid-2010.  Nissan is the UKÔÇÖs largest carmaker by volume and is the largest single-site employer in the North East.┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *