ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Nissan is to create 500 new jobs and introduce a third production shift at its plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, in response to strengthening demand and the introduction of its third model.
Nissan Manufacturing Rus (NMGR) announced the production of the Murano crossover for the domestic Russian market in March last year.
It has now been confirmed that, from April 2011, the new model will join the Teana saloon and X-Trail SUV currently manufactured there.
With the introduction of Murano, together with increasing demand for Teana and X-Trail, St Petersburg annual volume could double from last year's output depending on the market, and approach the plant's maximum capacity of 50,000 units.
This has prompted Nissan to create an additional production shift at the plant with recruitment beginning last month.
By April, 500 new jobs will have been added to the current workforce of 1,500.
Dmitry Mikhailov, NMGR Managing Director said: "We are proud of the vigorous growth and development of the St Petersburg Plant. In less than two years we have increased our model line-up from one to three models and the size of our staff has almost tripled.
"The introduction of a third production shift is an extremely positive move which underlines not only Nissan's ongoing commitment to its Russian operations, but the demand for Nissan cars within what is one of our key European markets."
Last year Nissan was ranked the number 1' Japanese car brand in Russia with 2010 calendar year sales of 79,614 showing 24% growth above the 2009 performance.
In 2010CY Nissan increased its share of the market amongst foreign manufacturers from 5,56% to 7,74% based largely on sales of the locally produced X-Trail and Teana as well as imported Qashqai and Tiida.
Mr Mikhailov added: "We are delighted with Nissan's performance in 2010 and Russia is now Nissan's second largest single market within Europe. We are looking forward to building on this success in 2011 with the continued delivery of top-quality products to our customers, and Murano will make a significant contribution."
Murano - already a popular model in the Russian market - pioneered the crossover segment in Russia in 2005 by combining the attributes of a luxury sports saloon with the benefits of an SUV.
The second (and current) generation was launched in 2008. Together with the Qashqai, Qashqai +2 and JUKE (to be launched in Russia in spring 2011), it underlines Nissan's leadership within the crossover segment.
Nissan is to create 500 new jobs at its plant in St. Petersburg as it braces itself for the launch of Murano assembly
