On hearing the news, Uchida said: “I am deeply humbled and sincerely thankful to receive this honor from His Majesty King Charles III. The relationship between Nissan and the UK began 40 years ago, and today it continues to be very strong.

“The honor of this award goes to our Nissan employees around the world and in the UK, where Nissan is proud to design, engineer and build vehicles. I thank them for all their efforts and for inspiring with their dedication and innovation.”

Nissan established its UK production site in Sunderland in 1984, before starting production in 1986. Its growth and importance as an export facility for Nissan saw Sunderland become the biggest plant in the history of the UK car industry. With international design and R&F facilities in London and Cranfield, a parts centre in Lutterworth and UK Sales and Marketing operations in Rickmansworth, Nissan today has 7,000 UK employees and supports 30,000 jobs in the UK supply chain.

In 2023 Uchida joined the team in Sunderland to confirm three future Nissan electric vehicles (EVs) were to be manufactured in the UK, the next generation Nissan LEAF and future electric versions of the Nissan Qashqai and Nissan Juke, as part of the Nissan EV36Zero blueprint for EV manufacturing.