Nissan will expand the production of its Qashqai crossover, adding new capacity at the Kyushu plant in Japan.

The move will help Nissan to meet high domestic demand and will free up more capacity at its Sunderland plant in the UK for European sales.

Nissan said global sales of the Qashqai have outperformed its initial projections since its European debut in February and launch in Japan in May. To-date, sales of the Qashqai in Europe have reached 58,051 units.

The addition of the capacity in Kyushu will allow the Sunderland plant to better meet the demand coming from the European market. In June, Nissan announced a further £2.4 million investment into the Sunderland plant to increase Qashqai production.

Together with the additional global volume in Japan, this investment will help reduce the waiting time for a new Qashqai across Europe.