Automotive industry in the United Kingdom to Britain from 1975, later launching a hatchback model (the Polonez) alongside it. However, by 1998, Skoda was the only Eastern European carmaker still importing cars to Britain, now competing with budget-priced Far Eastern cars from the likes of Daewoo, Kia, Hyundai and Proton. Nissan had axed the Datsun brand by 1984 and used its own name on all cars, and in 1986 opened a factory in Britain near Sunderland, which produced the mid-range Bluebird hatchbacks and saloons, although it was the Japanese-built Micra which was the company's best-selling car in Britain during the 1980s. The decade also saw the
Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance than expected, in 2013 the Alliance revised its sales target to 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2020. In May 2008, as part of the Alliance’s zero emission strategy, Nissan and NEC formed a joint-venture company, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) to focus on the development and mass production of advanced lithium-ion batteries for a wide range of automotive applications from hybrids, electric vehicles to fuel-cell vehicles. AESC began production in 2009 at its facility at Nissan’s Zama plant in Kanagawa Prefecture where annual capacity is 65,000 units. Globally, Alliance battery production capacity is expected to be 500,000 units a year