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Nissan’s veiled message
THE “economics must work” if Nissan decides to make its new Juke and Qashqai electric vehicles in the UK.
Speaking to the BBC recently, Nissan’s CEO Ashwani Gupta said that Britain faced a challenge if it was to remain competitive in comparison with other carmaking countries.
Manufacturing costs were higher than in other countries owing to higher energy bills and overall inflation, he pointed out, warning that lower costs were key to keeping the UK competitive.
Also prominent in making the UK attractive to car makers was continuing government support in the transition to electric vehicles, coupled to dependable supply chains, Gupta added.
Nissan is committed to producing the Leaf electric car’s successor at its Sunderland factory which employs 6,000 people. At the same time the CEO said that the company “needed to have the economics to justify it” when allocating production of the new Juke and Qashqai models between its 44 plants worldwide.
Determining where to build the Juke and Qashqai will not be immediate, as the new models of these Sunderlandmade bestselling cars are not due until 202728 and decisions are usually made two or three years earlier.
Nissan recently secured approximately £100 (€112.5 million) in public money towards the £1 billion (€1.125 billion) it will invest in expanding a Chineseowned battery plant adjoining the Sunderland plant.
Meanwhile, as the global car manufacturing is reshaped, the US is offering tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to the car industry and EU is expected to respond with its own enticements.
