There's every reason to get excited about the electrified future of Nissan. The Ariya is surely one of the most stunningly designed crossovers from the Japanese marque and even though its arrival has been delayed due to a combination of the pandemic and the global chip shortage, that hasn't diluted our anticipation for this Tesla Model Y rival.

In more exciting news, Nissan has just announced that another new-generation electric crossover is on the way. This news coincides with the unveiling of the Nissan EV36Zero. This is a £1 billion flagship Electric Vehicle (EV) Hub in Sunderland, UK, that will help accelerate Nissan's electrification plans.

The new electric crossover will be produced at the Nissan Sunderland Plant and will be built on the Alliance CMF-EV platform that also underpins the Ariya. This crossover will create 909 new jobs at the plant and Nissan has forecast a production capacity of up to 100,000 units.

Nissan describes it as having next-generation styling and, in the one teaser image that was shared, it certainly has a striking silhouette. It shares its large wheel arches and coupe-like roofline with the Ariya but the headlights and taillights have a totally unique design. The top half of the body is all black and, overall, this appears to be a more aspirational crossover, perhaps sacrificing some practicality for its daring form. However, Nissan has not confirmed its positioning in the market at this time.

Nissan also mentioned next-generation efficiency and battery technology, indicating that the powertrain could be an improvement over the one in the Ariya. The new SUV is said to be designed for global markets.

"Nissan's announcement to build its new-generation all-electric vehicle in Sunderland, alongside a new gigafactory from Envision-AESC, is a major vote of confidence in the UK and our highly-skilled workers in the North East," said UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The new 9GWh-capacity gigafactory by Envision AESC and interconnected projects will, in total, create 6,200 new jobs both at Nissan and in the UK supply base. "This is a landmark day for Nissan, our partners, the UK and the automotive industry as a whole," said Ashwanu Gupta, Nissan's Chief Operating Officer.