Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa said the company is committed to the future of its Sunderland plant but called on the government to make the UK a more hospitable place to build cars - or risk further factory closures.
Recently appointed to the top job at Nissan, Espinosa is tasked with leading the company out of a dramatic global slump - and he has already announced that the firm will cut 20,000 jobs globally and trim its worldwide production network from 17 vehicle factories to 10.
As recently reported by Autocar, the firm’s 41-year-old UK factory in Sunderland is not among those due to be shut down and is still planned to build the next-generation Leaf and electric successors to the Juke and Qashqai crossovers, following a £2 billion investment package to adapt it for production of new-generation EVs.
Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London, Espinosa said committing to UK production of those new models is testament to the strategic importance of Sunderland and he reaffirmed that there is “no intention” to shutter or downscale operations at the site.
But, he added, the UK is no longer so viable as a vehicle production location from a global perspective, with high energy costs and inhibitive trading conditions threatening companies’ abilities to build here profitably.
“It's important that we keep competitive in every market today. When you look at competition coming out from China, the… let's say the conditions are not equal,” Espinosa said, in reference to the UK’s competitiveness as a production hub.
“If an importer brings a car from China into the UK, as a local manufacturer in the UK you don't have any advantage in front of them. So we need to keep pushing into improving competitiveness – things like energy and a few other things are not as competitive as they are in other markets and we need support from the government to remain competitive in the UK.”
Espinosa was not specific about the kind of support he would like to see from the government but suggested that the Sunderland factory’s future is ultimately contingent on it remaining a profitable enterprise.
“We are a business and unfortunately we are continuously reassessing the situation of the business,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don't have time to waste and resources to spare.
"We are very practical about running the business and we will keep monitoring the situation. But if we cannot be competitive, we'll have to make decisions."
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