After kicking into life 88 years ago, Nissan’s Yokohama engine manufacturing plant has hit a significant milestone after producing its 40-millionth powertrain, with no signs of slowing down as the factory transitions to an electric powertrain and battery assembly line.
Nissan opened the Yokohama plant just two years after its founding, which took 41 years for the company to hit the first 10-million engine production milestone.
Since then, Nissan’s Yokohama plant has been responsible for creating icons like the L20ET, Japan’s first-ever turbocharged passenger car back in 1979, as well as the 1983 VG – which debuted as Japan’s first mass-produced V6 powertrain.
In 2007, the Yokohama plant was tasked with producing the VC Turbo, the world’s first mass-produced engine with variable compression ratio technology, as well as the Nissan GT-R’s iconic and hand-assembled VR38DETT unit.
Nissan’s Yokohama plant has also been responsible for electric motor production since the Nissan Leaf’s launch in 2010, which now accounts for 40 per cent of overall powertrain production for e-Power vehicles like the Note, X-Trail and Qashqai e-Power.
Moving into the future, Nissan says that a pilot line established at the Yokohama plant will be used to spearhead the development of the company’s upcoming all-solid-state batteries.
