Nissan will close one of the two production lines at its Sunderland plant, United Kingdom, as part of a cost-cutting plan that includes cutting 900 jobs in Europe. The British factory currently produces the new electric Leaf, the Juke, and the Qashqai, models that will from now on all be made on the same production line. The company has assured that no layoffs are planned at the Sunderland plant as a result of this decision, although some jobs in the UK could still be affected by the total 900 redundancies planned for Europe.
Read more Marini: “Our main goal for Le Mans is to get into Q2”
Nissan cuts a production line in the UK
The decision marks a further contraction of Nissan’s only European production site, which in recent years has seen a significant drop in volumes. The plant produced 273,174 vehicles over the past year, compared to a peak of over half a million. Nissan explained that it has initiated measures to make the company “leaner and more resilient,” able to respond quickly to market dynamics. Among the initiatives under consideration are the partial closure of the spare parts warehouse in Barcelona, as well as the shift to an import model in the Nordic countries.
Read more Razgatlioglu at his first race in Le Mans: “More excited than worried”
Jobs at risk?
The closure of line 1 is expected in the second half of the year, while line 2 will move to three shifts to compensate for the loss of capacity. The Japanese company also aims to involve a second car manufacturer in the future to take over line 1: potential interested parties include Chery and Dongfeng, Chinese companies considered capable of producing at the plant. According to the company, the sale of the line would allow jobs to be preserved and production to increase. However, the announcement has caused regret: former Nissan executive Andy Palmer, who started his career in Sunderland, told Autocar that any reduction in production capacity is “bad news” for Nissan and the city.
Read more Marquez: “I really like Le Mans. A nice step forward in the tests”
