First, about the model itself. The first generation of X-Trail was released in 2000. The model was based on the Nissan FF-S platform, and its exterior was designed in the style of the legendary Nissan Patrol SUV. This brutality, which largely determined the popularity of the new product, subsequently served as a reason for criticism against the designers who proposed a new look for the evolved X-Trail. But this will happen only after 13 years, and in 2007, the second generation of the X-Trail, created on the Nissan C-platform, entered the world markets. The same one on which the Qashqai model was launched a year earlier.

Car production in St. Petersburg started in 2009, and in 2012 the plant was awarded its first award: “Best Plant for Quality” among all Nissan plants in the world

There were few design delights in the exterior of the second generation, and the X-Trail still remained a brutal car - Nissan marketers saw this as one of the highlights of the model. And then in 2013, the third generation of the X-Trail came out, which sparked conversations about whether the popular car had lost its masculine character, and with it its off-road qualities? As for the latter, it definitely hasn’t lost its brutality... Be that as it may, even in Russia, where they know a lot about SUVs, sales of the X-Trail today exceeded the sales figures of the Qashqai - a car that has long proven itself in the SUV segment .

Parts in the body shop come from our own stamping shop

Production of the third generation X-Trail at the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg started in December 2014, and the launch was carried out in record time. But this does not mean that manufacturers could count on some discounts in terms of quality: only full compliance with all company standards gives the green light to begin production of the model. By the way, about the loss of brutality... At the start of Russian production of the third generation X-Trail, admirers of the model wondered whether it was possible to leave the previous version on the assembly line?

It is clear that the issue was based on more emotions: the new X-Trail, firstly, is significantly more technologically advanced, and secondly, its design required more careful work with gaps and differences in body surfaces, and this fact was very soon noted by Russian buyers. As for the efficiency with which the model was launched, the plant employees are proud of it for good reason: the start of production of the X-Trail took place simultaneously with the expansion of the plant.

December 2014. The plant launched production of the new Nissan X-Trail

By 2014, the plant, producing about 50,000 cars annually, reached its maximum capacity, and without expanding the production area, the production of new models was no longer possible. New production sites also appeared, such as a stamping shop and a plastics shop, which made it possible to significantly increase the share of domestic components in the X-Trail model. In addition, the rapid launch was facilitated by changes in the management structure: each department had a team directly responsible for the launch. The work of this group began at the stage of solving engineering issues, one and a half to two years before the start of production. All the measures taken made it possible to reach the required level of quality not in the three months allowed by Nissan standards, but in eight to nine weeks.

The plant's painting shop is equipped with the most modern equipment

The speed with which a new model is launched into production, the numbers reflecting the volume of that same production - all this is important. But there is another equally important criterion - quality. “10–15 years ago, it was believed that the Russian consumer, in conditions of shortage, did not evaluate the quality of cars so critically,” says Boris Mezentsev, manager of car quality assurance at Nissan Manufacturing Rus LLC. - Today, judging by the data of the annual European standard questionnaires, we see that our clients are sometimes more demanding than clients in Europe.

Moreover, as a rule, there is no talk about quality; this is a fact that goes without saying. Russian customers want to own a car of the highest level.” An example of such exactingness were requests regarding the size of the gaps in the body parts of the Nissan Teana, although they all fell within the tolerances determined by the Japanese side. As for the X-Trail, issues with gaps and differences in body parts did not arise even when the first model was released. “Without full compliance with Nissan standards, we simply could not produce cars of this brand,” continues Boris Mezentsev. “But if a customer demands an even higher level of quality, we can tighten Japanese regulations within our plant.” And this is not just a declaration of intent: in order to stay ahead of customer desires, some tolerances have been revised at the St. Petersburg Nissan plant.

Consumer opinion is really important for plant engineering services, and this is not just collecting statistical data and analyzing warranty claims. Actions are taken on the most pressing requests. For example, there were requests to change the basic low beam installation angle in the headlights of the Nissan X-Trail. And despite the fact that changing parameters when installing headlights must simultaneously comply with both Nissan requirements and Russian technical regulations, the customers’ request was satisfied. There were also wishes to improve the efficiency of the Nissan X-Trail.

As a result, today's model, in particular, is equipped with an eco mode function, and in comparison with the T31 model, fuel consumption has been reduced by 20-25%. Moreover, in December 2016, a direct line of communication between customers and the plant was launched, eliminating less timely communication through questionnaires or dealer centers. There are also more global wishes of Russian clients. For example, many would like to have a larger trunk on their third-generation X-Trail. It is clear that this problem cannot be solved in a factory environment, but such wishes are transferred to the Nissan design department, and it is very likely that they will be taken into account when developing the next X-Trail model.

Quality standards are set by Nissan, but internal factory requirements are sometimes more stringent.

It is clear that the client always wants something more. But the third-generation Nissan X-Trail still ticks all the boxes for a reliable family SUV. Compared to the previous version, it has become more maneuverable and has improved steering and CVT settings. That is, as the Nissan plant engineers themselves say, “it has become more friendly.” As for the design, which someone at the level of the model’s launch considered controversial, it is unlikely to have scared off the true admirers of this car, but it certainly attracted new customers to the ranks of the “Nissan X-Trail lovers club.”

And in conclusion, a few words about the Russian assembly, a topic that was the talk of the town just a few years ago. Today, the level of consumer confidence in cars assembled in Russia is much higher, but one fact is still worth mentioning: according to the results of the latest independent audit, which was carried out at the request of the Japanese headquarters, the St. Petersburg Nissan plant was ahead of the European headquarters in terms of the number of points scored. company plant, plant in Sunderland (UK).

The growth of production required both the expansion of space and the emergence of new workshops. The photo shows a plastic workshop

From 2009 to 2014, the plant produced 113,818 Nissan X-Trail vehicles, and from 2014 to the present day - more than 52,000 vehicles of the new version

On December 9, production of the new Nissan X-Trail started at the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg. However, this model can only be called new conditionally: its debut took place in 2013 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and mass sales began in July of this year. Russia initially relied on the localization of this model, so they did not export the new X-Trail.

The first two months in St. Petersburg will be what is called “gaining volume,” and when there are enough collected X-Trails and they appear at all Russian dealers, official sales will begin. This should happen in February 2015.

The launch ceremony was formal and modest. They were waiting for Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, but he did not come. Instead, Maxim Meiksin, chairman of the Committee on Industrial Policy and Innovation of St. Petersburg, took the rap, saying only a couple of routine words. The head of Nissan in Europe, Paul Willcox, was also not very informative, as was Philippe Saillard, CEO of Nissan Manufacturing Rus.

Philippe Saillard, CEO of Nissan Manufacturing Rus

They only reported that the St. Petersburg plant opened a “second stage” for the X-Trail: if previously its capacity was 50,000 cars per year, it has now increased to 100,000. An additional 71 thousand square meters of production space cost the Japanese company 167 million euros. The staff expanded from 1900 to 2266 people.

But the Nissan people chose persistently not to talk about the car itself: neither prices, nor configurations, nor the expected production volume - nothing. It's still early, they say. They can be understood: by February the situation on the market will be completely different, and it is generally unclear which cars will be in demand. You announce the price list now, and the euro exchange rate will fly to Mars tomorrow. So what, apologize?

Therefore, the only topic that the Nissan people were willing to talk about was localization. By 2016, 90% of cars sold by Nissan in Russia will be produced in the country, if we take into account sites in Izhevsk, Tolyatti and Moscow.

Plant director Dmitry Mikhailov never tired of repeating: localization is the only way to maintain competitiveness and Nissan (like the entire Alliance) will consistently become more and more Russian. The plant has something to strive for: while in Togliatti and Izhevsk the production of stampings and even engines has already been established, then in St. Petersburg the percentage of domestic products is only 39. In a year, near the Nissan plant, a stamping shop of the Japanese company Unipres Corporation should start operating, then localization will increase to 45%. And then it won’t be easy: in St. Petersburg they make models that are quite expensive and have a small circulation. Taking into account the fact that next year the new Qashqai will hit the production line, it turns out that one model will be produced on average 20,000 per year, and this is subject to full load. It is quite difficult to attract local suppliers for such volumes.

Dmitry Mikhailov, General Director of the Nissan plant in St. Petersburg

Let's see what Nissan does for the Russian market.

At the components warehouse, special carts with components of a specific vehicle are formed.

The power units are suspended on a monorail conveyor for further assembly, and some attachments are attached here.

The first workshop is the body shop. It begins with the rolling section, where robots roll hinged body elements - doors, hood and trunk lids.

Then the conductors manually weld the floor panels, engine shield and sidewalls.

Then the attachment parts are attached to the body.

And it undergoes surface finishing.

Some bodies are “pulled out” from the line to a special laboratory, where three-dimensional geometry measurements are taken at 1,500 points. Tolerance – 1 mm. It is possible to check two bodies per shift - this is not a quick task.

The new body shop, built as part of the expansion of the plant, is “tailored” directly for the X-Trail, and, in the future, Qashqai. Here everything happens using exactly the same technology as in the old workshop: rolling, welding, welding, assembly. The final welding is carried out by 12 robots.

Eleven new stations weld 13 types of subassemblies using seven robots. Welding conductors move between posts on self-propelled trolleys. The same cannot be said about finished bodies: they have to be pushed manually.

The assembled bodies undergo visual inspection and fine-tuning.

The carts are then manually rolled into the dressing room of the paint shop.

Here is the last cosmetic stage: cleaning the interior with a vacuum cleaner and wiping off any remaining stamping oil from the surfaces.

The noted shortcomings will be eliminated later.

The idle public is not allowed into the painting room. The Nissan guys managed to get out of it gracefully - they installed a projector on which they showed a short movie about the paint shop. Nothing special, everything is more or less standard.

The process begins with surface preparation, which includes 11 successive baths with different solutions. The metal is cleaned, degreased, and given a protective phosphate coating.

Then - cataphoresis priming at a voltage of 330 Volts and drying at 180 degrees.

When the plant expanded, a second preparation and priming line was installed here; now their total throughput is 40 bodies per hour.

After drying, large joints are sealed, anti-noise mastic and anti-gravel are applied to individual areas.

Then another drying and final sanding.

The painting complex was also recently modernized: instead of solvent-based materials, they switched to water-soluble paints. Such enamels are more difficult to store and apply, but are more environmentally friendly. Plus, it became possible to abandon the intermediate drying of the secondary layer of soil.

Eight robots of the new painting complex allow painting 20 cars per hour. The painted and varnished body is dried in an oven at a temperature of 140 degrees. After which it is again inspected and polished.

Here is the color scheme of St. Petersburg Nissans today.

A dazzlingly beautiful red-haired girl, Alena, works in the paint shop, and I immediately began to get to know her. And I met! But I won’t show you the photo, because it doesn’t matter.

The bodies, brought to the required condition, are covered with wax in hidden cavities and sent to a storage facility. Bumpers are painted separately.

By the way, about bumpers. They are made right here at the factory, in the new (launched at the beginning of the year) “plastic” workshop.

Soon they will also make thresholds for Teana. The workshop employs 10 people, but next year a second shift will appear (10 more).

There are two large injection molding machines:

Warehouse of replacement molds:

And a device for preparing mass from granulate:

First, the bumpers are injection molded, then laser cut out holes for headlight washers and parking sensors. Finished bumpers are sent immediately for painting.

In the same workshop, parts for the instrument panel are cast by the supplier, Calsonic Kansei. All plastic scraps and parts that do not pass the quality check are crushed and the granules are reused. You can do this with polypropylene.

The assembly shop is a combination of overhead and trolley conveyors.

Here they are very careful about the safety of the paintwork; in most areas the body simply sinks into the protective linings.

Somewhere here there are robots for gluing glass, but they weren’t shown to us.

In parallel with the assembly of the interior, various modules are assembled, first of all the instrument panel, which is here called the “instrument panel”.

The “torpedo” leaves the workshop on an automatic shaitan cart.

And gets in line for installation.

Then - the chassis section. Wheels, both main and spare, are being prepared nearby.

Now installation of the power unit, gas tank, exhaust system and suspensions. The wheels are secured by placing them in the grooves of special pantographs, which saves workers effort.

Now you can install the seats.

And, as a finale, the doors were removed before assembly and assembled separately.

Hybrid Pathfinders are assembled in a separate area, this is due to the specifics of the installation of electrical components.

That's it, the assembly line ends here and the quality controllers start working.

After a visual check...

...the cars drive to the wheel alignment stand, where the headlights are adjusted at the same time.

Then - a dynamic test on a roller stand.

The car is “accelerated” to 120 km/h and braked. The throttle response and uniformity of operation of the brake mechanisms are assessed.

Now, through the area for checking the engine compartment, cars go to assess the tightness, to the shower chamber (there are two of them at the factory). Long-term “watering” is selectively carried out.

At the same time, the suspension shakes.

The finale includes drives along factory tracks and a storage area.

It is curious that commercial vehicles leave the factory with film protection for the disks. A trifle - and the dealer has less hassle during pre-sale preparation.

The Nissan X-Trail is equipped with Dunlop tires, but the spare tire is Yokohama, which is cheaper.

In general, the build quality of the X-Trail is very high.

Here is today's production line:

The St. Petersburg Nissan plant is an extremely rational enterprise. It does not amaze with the amount of robotics (there are many more robots on the welding line of the VAZ Kalina), but it has the highest efficiency (which cannot be said about the same VAZ). Three times this plant was recognized as the best in terms of product quality among all the company’s factories scattered around the world, from Japan to Mexico. This compact, simple, unpretentious factory.

They know how.

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The Nissan Corporation treats the Russian market with extreme respect, which can be seen in the practically unchanged prices for the main model range in conditions of inflation and rising foreign exchange rates in the country. Today, one of the popular budget sedans is the Nissan Almera - a car that was recently developed specifically for Russia. We remember past generations of Almera, but they were completely different. Today, buyers in Russia have access to a completely different car, which is based on new simple technologies and effective design features. The car looks quite adequate as a family or work sedan for various tasks. The car can perform the tasks of both simple budget transport and a representative of the middle class for complex long-distance trips.

The new generation Nissan Almera has ceased to be a simple budget car. We are talking about quite advanced technologies under the hood and good quality of the car. The question of where Nissan Almera is assembled is increasingly of concern to Russian buyers. This question can be resolved if we remember that in the form it is in Russia, Almera is sold only in some CIS countries. From this we can conclude that the new generation Almera was produced not only for Russia, but also directly in Russia. However, the build quality of the car in our country turned out to be quite high; this car will not cause any criticism from you in terms of its layout. In addition, all main units are supplied from Japan; only assembly is carried out at our plant.

Distribution of Nissan factories and Almera assembly site

Today the corporation is actively working to expand its geography. We are talking about creating divisions with full-fledged car production. The company is especially interested in areas that are not too occupied by other Japanese manufacturers. In terms of profit and turnover, the corporation takes second place in Japan; the company receives huge dividends from locating factories in countries where there is no high wages. However, the company monitors the quality of car assembly, performing this task quite efficiently. Among the main divisions of the corporation are factories in Japan, Great Britain, the USA, Mexico, South Africa and Russia. These are the main concerns. As for the features of the Russian Almera assembly, the following features can be highlighted:

• production of the model was established in Tolyatti, AvtoVAZ, together with Nissan, prepared a new line for assembling the car;
• the quality of the plastic suffered greatly for the sake of the low cost of the car, the car received not too expensive interior finishing materials;
• the sound insulation of the interior also did not show signs of an expensive car; when traveling to Almera, you can hear everything that happens to the wheels and engine;
• the car received good quality seats, a very interesting dashboard design, fairly high-quality metal body;
• welding and painting of the body are also performed with high quality; the buyer has no complaints about these processes;
• Almera's special design for Russia was created specifically in the style of the Teana of the previous generation; the car personifies high cost and chic.

It should be noted that the company made a lot of investments in the construction of a new production line, faced many problems in legalizing this activity, but went through all the difficulties quite bravely, implementing the Russian assembly of Nissan Almera. Many professional drivers who have taken a test drive of a car say that the Russian assembly has not been felt here for a long time. The car is completely reliable, high quality and has excellent capabilities for a successful trip on any road.

Technical characteristics and operational features of Almera

An excellent car on 15- and 16-inch wheels, a very comfortable ride and good design of all elements. This is what a person who gets behind the wheel of an Almera for the first time will say, if before that he drove old domestic cars. But as soon as you change from driving a Nissan to a new Toyota, let’s assume that the feelings and essence of your review will change dramatically. Hard plastics, uncertain position on the road, quite a lot of factory defects that are visible already on the first trip. As you can see, the Nissan Almera can be versatile. The machine does have a number of problems, but its advantages outweigh the disadvantages:

• a fairly large cabin can accommodate five passengers without any difficulties;
• 1.5 and 2 liter engines produce 109 and 133 horses, which is quite enough for a dynamic trip;
• conventional 5-speed manual transmission and a new generation CVT are quite adequate options in terms of gearboxes;
• the car received many important advantages in suspension parts, as well as in the implementation of the braking system;
• There are no new technologies on board the Nissan Almera, but there is enough traditional Japanese technology;
• Technically, there can be no complaints about the car at all, especially considering the cost in showrooms.

It’s interesting that in reviews and test drives the car is undergoing a real reformation. At first, the driver finds himself in a budget environment that looks too gray and uninteresting, and at the end of the test drive he begins to admire the convenience and thoughtfulness of the car. The fact is that it is wrong to talk about the development of a new generation Nissan Almera specifically for Russia. In Japan, the Sunny has been produced in exactly the same form and with similar technology since 2007. Having updated the Sunny for Japan, the corporation transferred the old development to AvtoVAZ to assemble a domestic budget car with the image of a foreign car. However, this project was a completely predictable success.

Options prices and other subtleties of sales of Nissan Almera

Cars with great potential can become real leaders in their class, but for Nissan Almera this goal is almost unattainable. The car has become popular, but it is simply impossible to overtake all representatives of the budget segment. Let's start with the fact that the sedan can hardly be called compact; it rather belongs to the transitional segment from B to C and cannot fully compete with the Hyundai Solaris. However, this car has no need for competition. The main advantages of the machine on the market can be described as follows:

• the presence of a large number of technical variations of the car for each wallet and each individual case;
• several available packages that will help you make the right choice based on price and equipment features;
• a completely justified base price of around 450,000 rubles, a very good cost option for competition in the class;
• beautiful appearance that is reminiscent of the traditional design options of the Nissan corporation;
• very high quality execution of the main elements, despite some shortcomings with materials and their quality;
• quite acceptable ride comfort, car reliability at a fairly high level, as for the budget segment.

There are many options for benefits for which you can praise a car. Of course, you can also find negative aspects for which the car needs to be criticized. But I don’t really want to look for them. That is why in most situations it is better to use personal impressions of the trip in order to get more information about the car and confidence in its purchase. Go for a test drive at one of the Nissan showrooms and get the right emotions and experience behind the wheel of a car. Only then will you be able to say whether the car meets your aspirations and wishes. We invite you to watch a short test drive of the new Almera on video:

Let's sum it up

An excellent budget car did not become the most popular in its segment due to some features that the manufacturer sacrificed. However, today the Nissan Almera is one of the most promising offerings on the low-cost sedan market. The car is quite ready to prove its superiority in all respects and can surprise you with its high quality and quite pleasant characteristics. Today, this car offers excellent configuration options that will make driving a surprisingly pleasant car for everyone.

There are many competitors of the Nissan Almera, which offer a more refined and modern appearance, adequate technology, and high build quality. But in all respects, not a single model can boast of circumventing this development. The Japanese manufacturer thought through how to promote the car on the Russian market and did everything as clearly and correctly as possible. That is why the car received many important advantages and became one of the best-selling in its narrow segment. What do you think about the development of Nissan Almera in the new generation?

In 2001, a new excellent representative of the crossover segment appeared on our market. It was then that the Japanese concern Nissan launched the compact SUV Nissan X-Trail into mass production. Subsequently, the car was restyled twice - in 2007 and 2010. Now our customers are provided with a model with a large radiator grille, LED headlights and wide bumpers. In the cabin you will find only modern gadgets, comfortable seats and coziness throughout the trip.

This crossover is usually bought by self-sufficient people who like to go on vacation with their family or a large group. What is most important for such a person? Naturally, safety. This factor is directly affected by the build quality. Therefore, let’s take a look at where Nissan X-Trail is assembled for our market and for other countries of the world.

There are only three factories around the world where the Nissan X-Trail is made. One of them is located in the UK in the city of Sunderland. They produce models for old world markets. Such specimens practically never make it into our car showrooms, which is unfortunate. After all, the British are distinguished by their scrupulousness and hard work.

Further, the Nissan X-Trail is assembled directly in Japan. There are several factories located in different provinces of the country. Until 2009, only crossovers of this assembly entered our market. There were practically no complaints about them. The craftsmen made an excellent chassis, an excellent body and a comfortable interior. Although, the driver's ears suffered somewhat, because it is impossible to call a Japanese-made car quiet.

The third one that assembles the Nissan X-Trail is a plant in Russia.

As already mentioned, Russian and Japanese assembled Nissan X-Trail models come to our market. We have already talked about Japanese production in detail, so let’s move on to Russian production.

Since 2009, a Nissan plant has been built in St. Petersburg. Since then, more than 35% of all Nissan X-Trail models entering our market have been assembled here. The crossover of our production did not lose its popularity after our craftsmen began making it.

This can be judged by the fact that out of the huge rating of parking lots provided to our consumers, the Nissan X-Trail has been occupying not the last places for many years. Russian craftsmen continued the trend of producing the 4 by 4 segment. The model has practically not lost either in build quality or in its beauty and practicality. It is worth mentioning that our craftsmen make the interior of the car more refined and improved than the Japanese.

Our consumers only benefited from the fact that the crossover began to be assembled in Russia. After all, the car has become more affordable. Thanks to the Russian assembly, the model has been replenished with smart technologies and touches that will make the driver’s life much easier.

Unfortunately, after the first copies of the Russian Nissan X-Trail came out, the crossover lost some of its customers. They very, very unreasonably believe that our assembly is worse than the Japanese one. In general, we told you where the Nissan X-Trail is assembled, but it’s up to you to choose the work of domestic craftsmen or Japanese thoroughbreds.

The representative office of the Japanese automaker Nissan, on the eve of the release of a new model for the Russian market, revealed the secrets of adapting its production to the domestic consumer. The Japanese allowed us to get into the holy of holies - the production workshops of the conveyor for assembling the Teana and X-Trail models.

The cars move in batches, with an unpainted X-Trail moving slowly behind the metal body of the Teana. The technological complexity of assembling foreign models is beyond doubt, while the professional training of domestic assemblers is a subject of particular interest.

From the outside, a long building of regular geometric shape looks at the inquisitive tourist. On a clean white background, the name of the world famous Nissan brand is emblazoned in red letters. From the outside, the building and its surroundings look decorous and restrained in a European way, but is everything like that inside?

Build process

People at the factory perform 90% of the work on manual assembly and constant monitoring of product quality. Only 10% of the process of creating foreign cars is left to robotic technology, which includes painting the cars. Representatives of the Japanese auto giant at the moment at the plant near St. Petersburg completely exclude Russian localization - the use of domestically produced parts. Without exception, all components, including bolts and nuts, are brought to the village of Kamenka from Japan, as well as China and Thailand. At first glance, the internal logistics workshop (strategic management of material flows in the process of purchasing, supplying, transporting and storing materials), where imported spare parts are delivered, resembles the carefully cleaned corridors of Finnish furniture warehouses, with huge racks of cardboard boxes. Tractor vehicles move deftly between warehouse “cabinets,” dragging boxes from place to place. In the neighboring unpacking workshop, all newly arrived components by sea are checked for quality. Rejected parts are proudly displayed on a large table under the inscription: “Do not use.” Parts that have received approval from the plant’s specialists are sent for packaging for delivery to the next workshop for welding.

It is in the welding shop that the first one-piece structure made of foreign components, reminiscent of the skeleton of a car, appears.
When the frame of the model, be it Teana or X-Trail, adjusted down to 0.1 millimeters, acquires a more or less recognizable appearance, the body of the parts is sent for welding check. Two people hang around each model with special equipment in order to calculate the slightest error. The people doing this work, according to the plant’s specialists, have a special technical education; some have undergone internships in Japan and the UK. By the way, all plant employees go through a training stage before entering the workshops. “Work experience at another automobile production does not matter to us if a person cannot do or often makes mistakes in the tasks that we give,” said the plant’s personnel training specialist.

Having found an error, workers send the body for revision or scrap, depending on the complexity of the defect. The model that has passed the test is moved to the paint shop, where it is immersed in baths with various solutions, where the body surface is prepared for subsequent painting. After drying, the body is sent to the factory specialists for sealing the seams with sealant. Next, primer is applied to all surfaces of the body. The car body receives its final color at the next stage of the conveyor - specially trained operators do the painting, and robots apply the varnish to the body. The dried body is sent to the assembly shop, where the first thing factory workers do is install all the electrical wiring. After this, the future car is equipped with insulating materials and the front panel is installed. The next stage of the conveyor is the assembly of the interior and installation of engine compartment elements, then the installation of doors, wheels and seats. The last stage of the conveyor is programming the car's electronic components.

After the car leaves the assembly line, it undergoes testing and is sent in line with its brand new brothers. By the way, specialists from Japan and Great Britain also work at the plant. Guests from the Land of the Rising Sun supervise and carefully check all stages of the assembly. Foreign specialists also help their Russian colleagues quickly understand car assembly technologies and adapt to the production system Nissan.

According to plant workers, the plant is currently operating in order mode. That is, all Russian-assembled cars that come off the assembly line already have a buyer. The plant currently employs 750 people and has a production capacity of 10 cars per hour, while it takes about 40 hours to assemble one car. The company is certainly capable of higher production volumes (up to 50,000 cars per year), but so far the sales volume of the “Russian” Teana and X-Trail does not allow it to reach the desired level. Perhaps the new Russian-assembled model will be more budget-friendly and more profitable, and will contribute to the development of the Japanese branch in Russia.

Competitor Ford Focus

On the issue of the new model, production director of Nissan Manufacturing Rus, Dmitry Mikhailov, said that the company’s management itself has not yet decided which model of the Japanese auto giant will next enter the Russian assembly line. However, he does not deny that the easiest way is to convert the current production platform to produce the Qashqai. Explaining this scenario, Mikhailov immediately refutes it by saying that it is allegedly not profitable for Nissan to produce the same model in the same geographic region, since the Qashqai is already assembled in England. “The release of Qashqai in Russia will not be so effective, and one of the main tasks of the new model is economic benefit for the Russian buyer,” Mikhailov said.

Nissan is also thinking about developing a special car for the Russian market. “The success of the Ford Focus in Russia is certainly of great interest. With good sales volumes and future development of production, work in this direction is not excluded. But for now we do not have our own entry-level cars,” said Dmitry Mikhailov.

Made in Japan

The issue of Russian localization at Nissan Manufacturing RUS has not yet been resolved - now the plant does not even have a Russian-made bolt and the appearance of Russian components should not be expected in the near future. “We are negotiating with some suppliers from Russia. As soon as it is established that the products offered by them meet our quality requirements, we will work with them. For now, all components are imported, mainly by sea (containers with parts arrive in three months with from the moment of ordering). This will be the case until we establish the cars as a branded Japanese product with our quality; we still have time for this (according to the regulations, a foreign company has 4.5 years to achieve 30% Russian localization) The release of the new model will be based on the same principle - the first cars will be entirely made from Japanese components. If at the time of its release we will already be collaborating with one of the Russian suppliers, then these parts may also be in the new model. there are no such people,” said Dmitry Mikhailov.

However, an expert from the plant’s internal logistics department suggested that the first Russian parts might be car seats. According to a Nissan engineer, the company is in talks with a car seat supplier that already works with Ford. According to some reports, there is also a high probability that the situation will be simplified by the appearance of branches of foreign component manufacturers on the Russian market. Cooperating with many auto giants, foreign suppliers are already quite closely studying the possibility of working in the Russian market.

Savings for the buyer

The benefits of buying a Russian-assembled Nissan car are quite obvious - the final price of the car promises to be less than foreign-made cars of the same model. To gain momentum and start producing budget cars, Nissan began Russian production with expensive but popular models - Teana and X-Trail. Their success will allow the company to expand and gain momentum. “Now everything depends on the economic situation on the Russian market. Sales volume dictates all the conditions for us. As soon as the company sees that production in Russia is profitable, effort and money will be invested in this. For example, the price of Russian-assembled Teana already allows customers to save up to 8%,” Dmitry Mikhailov summed up at a meeting with journalists after a tour of the plant.

The future will show how firmly Nissan will be able to gain a foothold in the Russian automobile market, but it is already clear that if the price of the car decreases, customers will not have to wait long. After all, Japanese manufacturers give a guarantee and put their seal of quality on cars assembled in Russia.