Off Topic Nissan to move ALL EU manufacturing to the UK?

The Financial Times reports that car giant Nissan is drawing up plans to move its entire European operations into Britain if Brexit leads to tarrifs with the EU. The paper cites sources as saying a contingency predicts the Japanese company could undercut rivals through the move - as the cost of its cars to UK buyers would be cheaper than other makes manufactured in the EU.

'Nissan drafts plan to double down on UK under hard Brexit Scenario would see European pull-out and 20% target for UK market share. Nissan has drawn up a plan to pull out of mainland Europe if Brexit leads to tariffs on car exports — but to double down on the UK, where the Japanese company believes it could sell one in five cars. Two people involved in the discussions said the contingency plan, drawn up late last year, would see Nissan close its struggling Barcelona van facility and stop manufacturing in France. Under the scenario, the Sunderland plant in the UK would be maintained as part of an audacious attempt to steal market share from other carmakers. If carmakers that import to Britain such as Ford and Volkswagen face tariffs that make their cars more expensive, Nissan’s UK-made models would have a competitive edge, allowing the company to grow from 4 per cent of the market currently to as high as 20 per cent, according to the two people. The scenario is one of several that the carmaker developed to plan for post-Brexit tariffs. People familiar with the discussions cautioned that the contingency plan was drawn up before Makoto Uchida was installed as the new chief executive in December. Both the EU and the UK are expected to lay out tough negotiating positions today ahead of trade talks next month. Brussels will insist that market access be directly linked to Britain’s willingness to align with the bloc’s regulations when it unveils its proposals, while the UK will reject the idea of accepting EU rules. Nissan’s public position is that the UK plant would be threatened along with its European business if the UK fails to maintain tariff-free access to the EU. “We deny such a contingency plan exists,” said a spokesman for Nissan Europe. “We’ve modelled every possible ramification of Brexit and the fact remains that our entire business both in the UK and in Europe is not sustainable in the event of WTO tariffs …We continue to urge UK and EU negotiators to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade.” Nissan’s warnings have prompted fears that the company would eventually be forced to close its Sunderland production site if UK prime minister Boris Johnson fails to secure a deal with the EU. But the Japanese carmaker has invested more than £4bn in the site, the largest in the UK with 6,000 workers, and is determined to keep the facility operational even at the expense of abandoning its exports-based model. The plant, which is Nissan’s most efficient outside Japan, already makes three of Nissan’s five core models — the Qashqai, the Juke and the electric Leaf. Under Nissan’s tariff scenario, the Micra — a small car that shares a wheelbase with the Juke and is produced in a Renault plant in France — would be moved back to the UK. The company would also explore Sunderland producing the X-Trail, the largest of its models and one it previously planned to make in the UK. The site is equipped to make up to 600,000 cars a year, but last year output fell by a fifth to 350,000, with 80 per cent of the vehicles exported. Under the scenario of selling only to the UK and growing sales, the plant could reach 400,000. Its reliance on components imported from Europe — which would face tariffs under a hard Brexit — will also reduce as the brand winds down its use of diesel engines made by Renault. Nissan plans to eliminate the fuel source from its line-up from 2022. The idea of abandoning the business in mainland Europe underscores how far Nissan’s fortunes have declined in the region, where sales fell 17 per cent to 567,000 vehicles last year and most operations are lossmaking due to a sharp decline in diesel demand. Other carmakers have hinted at the possibility of growing in the UK after a hard Brexit with Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Peugeot owner PSA, promising in that situation to step up the company’s presence in the UK at its Ellesmere Port car plant in Cheshire.'


https://www.ft.com/content/c4f0d1e2-4442-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061c

That would shut up some of the gloom mongers!

 

..and in further news the tooth fairy will be making an appearance in next years xmas pantomime

 

Has anyone ever told you that you are EXTREMELY negative about the UK?

Maybe you've been spending far too much times with 'whinging Aussies' as you appear to exceed their stereotype of the 'Whinging Pom'!

Also, I'm still awaiting your reply about you, seemingly, referring to me as a 'Luddite'.

 

He said he was gonna get an Irish passport the other day, wished he would do it and frig off over there too

 

I just don't understand why he feels the need to portray himself as such a negative, miserable so and so.

 

You do realise that if he were to do that he'd be a LOT closer, given he now lives in Oz?

 

Oi

 

I thought you said you are a New Zealander who is now living amongst the whinging bassas.

 

Born in the UK, then Cyprus, then back to the UK, then NZ and then Aus.

I'm a bit of everything

 

Been eating that chicken again?

 

Don't be mean Rooch. he's just hinting at his role in next year's panto

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I am sure Nissan will weigh up all the options, and we will see what they decide in due course. Its far too soon for dancing in the street and telling half the population that they were wrong. There is still a long long way to go before Brexit is Done. And we will find out when it is whether Boris and his Cabinet care a fish or fig about the Northern Poorhouse. My guess is that if his support wanes in the Shires we will be the first to know, and he will drop us like he drops everything else.

 

It certainly would be a positive but it's purely speculation at this point.

Their actual quote is:

“We deny such a contingency plan exists,” said a spokesman for Nissan Europe. “We’ve modelled every possible ramification of Brexit and the fact remains that our entire business both in the UK and in Europe is not sustainable in the event of WTO tariffs …We continue to urge UK and EU negotiators to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade.”

If the above quote turns out to be accurate, would you deem that to be bad news for the brexiteers perspective in the same way that you see the opposite action as a vindication for Brexit?

 

Atm I think Nissan are in a bit of a mess..

Their former CEO is hiding from the law

Its X-Trail was not a good vehicle and was not selling

The Leaf has been out technology(ed) by S Korea (Hyundai and Kia)

The Quashi (?sp) is still very good

So like all car manufacturers they are having a tough time.

I read an article a couple of weeks ago by someone who was considering changing his car..he said now is like the 1880s, when the decision for transport was, a horse, an electric car or a new fangled internal combustion petrol one.

Today it looks as if diesel/petrol are on the way out, sales are down, (depreciation is very high) and do you go for a hybrid or full electric or wait for hydrogen/fuel cell if it ever emerges as front runner?

The dealers are stuck with cars that they have paid in full for and cannot give them away without incurring huge losses (as long as they are in stock, the losses are not showing up). There are not enough fully electric cars for a reasonable price on the market (Kia niro e, has pre sold all 750,000 of its production, about 280miles on a charge).

At home we have 3 cars, 2 x 2ltr diesel and one 2 litre petrol. One of the vehicles is due a change, if more electric were available I would go for one them (the e pace jag is good but at £70k far too expensive).
Looking at hybrids?

 

In that case please accept my apologies for phrasing my previous post in such a way that led you to believe I was thinking of you as a whinging Aussie.

I would never be so insulting!

 

You will, no doubt, have noticed the question mark at the end of the thread title.

I just thought, even with the number of issues still to be resolved, it was worth pointing out a story being carried by one of (if not the) most respected British newspapers..

 

Do you mean half a story ?

 

Not at all.

The article makes it clear that it was a contingency plan, but would make sense given that the Sunderland plant is the most productive outside of Japan.

The fact that it reports Carlos Tavares, chief executive of Peugeot owner PSA, is thinking along the same lines also, of greater UK investment if a hard Brexit results, (I believe) gives it additional credibility.

 

Nobody doubts that a change is gonna come, to North Britain.