Production of the e-NV200, which represents €100 million investment by Nissan in Spain, is expected to create around 700 new jobs at the plant and throughout its local supplier base.
As the sole producer of e-NV200, Barcelona will supply world markets highlighting the growing competitiveness of Nissan's Spanish industrial operations.
Last week a new medium duty truck was allocated to Nissan's Avila Plant in central Spain.
The new model will be based on the existing NV200 currently produced at the plant and will be an important and innovative addition to Nissan's global range of light commercial vehicles, the company said in a written statement.
"e-NV200 represents a genuine breakthrough in commercial vehicles and further underlines Nissan's leadership within the electric vehicle segment, said Andy Palmer, Nissan Executive Vice President.
"The new model will offer all the spaciousness, versatility and practicality of a traditionally powered compact van, but with zero CO2 emission at the point of use and also provide an outstanding driving experience that is unique to EV's. "Crucially, it will also offer class-leading running and maintenance costs, which makes it an exceptionally attractive proposition to both businesses and families."
e-NV200 will also make a significant contribution to Nissan's aim of becoming the world's largest LCV manufacturer by 2016 as a key pillar of the Nissan Power 88 mid-term plan.
Last year Nissan achieved an historic milestone of selling more than one million LCV's worldwide in a single year.
"I would like to thank the Spanish and Catalonian Government for their continued support of Nissan in Spain, and congratulate the Barcelona workforce for earning the right to produce what will be an extremely important model for Nissan globally," Palmer said.
The current NV200 line up has already sold around 100,000 units. Currently, intensive evaluations of prototype NV200-based electric vehicles are being carried out in Europe. Trials will continue in coming months in order to provide real-world feedback from the most demanding usage.
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