By Costas Pitas
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) – Nissan is pushing on
with plans to build its new Qashqai sports utility vehicle at
its British factory despite warnings over Brexit, announcing on
Friday a 52-million pound investment in a new press line at the
site.
The Japanese carmaker has said that if Britain’s departure
from the European Union leads to tariffs, its European business,
which also includes a plant in Barcelona, would be
unsustainable.
It said it would build the new Qashqai at its northern
English Sunderland site in 2016 after government reassurances
that Brexit would not hit competitiveness, reflecting how far in
advance investment decisions are made for a vehicle due around
the start of 2021.
“Our team in the UK continues to set the standard for
productivity and quality,” said Chief Operating Officer Ashwani
Gupta.
Globally, Nissan is grappling with the need to accelerate
cost-cutting and rebuild profits, repair its partnership with
France’s Renault and handle the fallout from former
boss Carlos Ghosn’s arrest.
It currently builds the LEAF, Qashqai and Juke models in
Britain, where it directly employs more than 7,000 people, but
it axed premium Infiniti vehicles last year, cutting output, and
has been hit by a slump in diesel demand.
The new extra-large press line is part of a 400
million-pound ($520 million) investment for the vehicle on top
of the 100 million pounds spent for the new Juke, which entered
production last year and has reached an output of 35,000.
Nissan’s Sunderland site, Britain’s biggest car plant, built
nearly 350,000 vehicles in 2019, down almost a third since a
recent high of over 500,000 cars in 2016.
Although Britain formally left the bloc in January, trading
terms with Europe will remain unchanged until the end of the
year after which a new partnership, which has yet to be
negotiated, will come into force.
Manufacturers fear any additional customs checks, tariffs
and regulations could add costs, slow down production processes
and potentially grind output to a halt.
(Reporting by Costas Pitas)
(([email protected]; 02075428024; Reuters
Messaging: [email protected] and @Cpitas
on Twitter))
Keywords: BRITAIN EU/NISSAN
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