Nissan will build more electric cars in England
Nissan said Friday it would invest a further 1.1 billion pounds (about $1.4 billion) to make three new electric models at its plant in Sunderland, northeast England.
The announcement, which included plans for an additional battery factory, looks set to go a long way to ensuring the survival of a substantial car manufacturing industry in Britain over the next decade or more.
Until recently, that was not guaranteed. Brexit, which has made trade with the European Union more difficult, and the global shift to electric cars had raised fears that the British car industry was facing an existential crisis. British car production has fallen by around 50 percent in the past six years.
“I think it’s a very significant investment,” says Peter Wells, automotive specialist at Cardiff Business School.
In addition to its plan to make three electric models in Sunderland, Nissan said it would make its car plant the anchor of a low-emissions industrial complex. The facilities include a new factory to make batteries for electric cars, as well as solar and wind farms to generate green electricity for the power stations, and an energy system to connect the facilities. The hope would be to attract additional suppliers, creating many more jobs.
The battery plant would join two others: one currently in operation and another in development, both run by Envision AESC, a subsidiary of a Chinese company that partners with Nissan. Envision AESC is expected to build the third factory.
Mr Wells said this idea of creating a green manufacturing hub in the North East of England was key to the announcement. As automakers move to lower-emission vehicles, they will also want to reduce the carbon footprint of their production, he said.
“This is the future of these types of operations,” Mr Wells said. “The long game is carbon-free production.”
Nissan’s Sunderland plant produced 238,000 vehicles in 2022, making it the most productive in Britain. The company announced it would make electric versions of two conventional models now produced there, the popular Qashqai and the Juke. Sunderland will also make the next generation of the Leaf, an electric model that has been made at the factory for a decade.
If the plan is successful, it could help protect the jobs of Nissan’s 7,000 workers in Britain. “Our British team will design, engineer and produce the vehicles of the future,” Makoto Uchida, Nissan’s president and CEO, told employees at the Sunderland plant on Friday, according to a company statement.
In recent months, car manufacturers with substantial interests in Britain have agreed to support British industry. Tata, the Indian conglomerate that owns Jaguar Land Rover, previously announced an investment of up to £4 billion in a major battery factory. And in September, BMW said it would invest £600 million to build electric versions of its popular Mini car models in Britain.
At the same time, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s British government has been pressured to provide aid to secure manufacturing jobs in sectors such as the car industry and steel. On Wednesday, the government announced a further £2 billion to support zero-emission car production as part of a general statement on spending.
A Nissan spokesman declined to reveal the amount of aid it would receive from the government, saying talks were still ongoing.