The Nissan Qashqai is the Best British Built Car

The Nissan Qashqai has been declared the Best British Built Car at the inaugural News UK Motoring Awards this week.

We’ve already covered the Sunday Times Motoring Awards this morning, but an additional winner deserves an extra mention too – the Nissan Qashqai.

News UK thought the Nissan Qashqai deserved an award all of its own, with the expert panel deciding to celebrate cars built in the UK, so the Qashqai has been voted ‘Best British Built Car’. And it’s more than justified.

The Qashqai may not be the funkiest family SUV on offer, or the most dynamic, or the coolest, but it’s as good a balance as you can get for a family SUV, a car which drives like a hatch and offers families everything they need.

Launched in 2007, the Qashqai managed to start a trend for SUVs which continues unabated, recent updates in 2017 made it more appealing, and this year it’s got ProPilot, new engines and a DCT ‘box option, as well as Nissan’s new NissanConnect infotainment to add to its appeal.

Nissan builds more than half a million cars at its Sunderland Plant every year, and the Qashqai has passed the three million mark, pumping some £3bn a year in to the economy with suppliers, services and wages, which, despite its Japanese ownership, makes it a proper British success story.

Alex Smith, Nissan GB MD, said:

The Qashqai is the original crossover, inventing the segment as we know it, and is the most successful model in Europe in Nissan’s history. The fact that Qashqai is designed, engineered and made in the UK is something we are immensely proud of. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the News UK judges for recognising Qashqai with this outstanding award.

Also worth noting is that the Best British-Built award for the Qashqai wasn’t awarded by News UK’s expert panel, but by more than 200,000 voters from the The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and talkSPORT.

Well deserved.