Nissan warns over hard Brexit impact on Sunderland plant

Carmaker Nissan on Thursday warned the UK government that a hard Brexit would cause serious disruption to its manufacturing operation in the north-east of England.

In a statement to the Guardian newspaper, Nissan urged UK and EU negotiators “to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade”.

Nissan employs almost 8,000 people in Britain, mostly at its factory near Sunderland with a further 30,000 employed in UK companies supplying the car manufacturer.

A Brexit deal without agreement on a customs union or regulations on free movement of goods would mean the UK using World Trade Organization rules, which apply 4.5% tariffs to car parts and 10% to finished cars.

Nissan said in February 2017 that tariffs would add £500m to the plant’s costs, which it might not survive, and that long delays of parts at borders would be a disaster for the operation, the newspaper reported.

“Since 1986, the UK has been a production base for Nissan in Europe. Our British-based research and development and design teams support the development of products made in Sunderland, specifically for the European market,” Nissan said on Thursday

“Frictionless trade has enabled the growth that has seen our Sunderland plant become the biggest factory in the history of the UK car industry, exporting more than half of its production to the EU.”

“Today we are among those companies with major investments in the UK who are still waiting for clarity on what the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU will look like.”

It added that a sudden change WTO rules would have “serious implications for British industry”.

In September 2016 the government gave assurances of financial support to Nissan when it said plans for the new Qashqai and X-Trail models due to be allocated to the Sunderland plant were on hold.