CAR MANUFACTURE: Nissan to build new models in Sunderland

Nissan has confirmed it will build both the new Qashqai and the X-Trail SUV at its Sunderland plant thanks to government "support and assurances".

The Japanese company's commitment to Britain's biggest car plant had been in doubt following the EU referendum. 

It comes as economic growth in the three months after the vote confounded expectations, growing by 0.5%.

That is slower than the 0.7% in the previous quarter but stronger than analysts' estimates of about 0.3%.

Nissan's decision is the first major development for the car industry since the Brexit vote and secures 7,000 jobs.

 

A Nissan spokesman said making the X-Trail at Sunderland could lead to hundreds of new jobs being created in the coming years.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan chief executive, said he welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May's "commitment to the automotive industry in Britain".

Last month, he warned that Nissan might not invest in the Sunderland plant unless the government guaranteed compensation for costs related to any new trade tariffs resulting from Brexit.

Building the X-Trail SUV is an unexpected addition to the model line-up at Sunderland, which makes almost one in three cars built in Britain and produced 475,000 vehicles last year - 80% of which were exported.

The Sunderland plant opened in 1986 and has produced almost nine million cars over the past three decades.

Export growth

Production of the next Qashqai model is expected to begin in 2018 or 2019.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of industry body the SMMT, said Nissan's announcement was good news for the UK's automotive sector.

But he added: "We need government to provide public assurance to investors that our advantages will be maintained - namely, a competitive business environment, the ability to recruit talent from abroad and the continuation of all the benefits of the single market as we leave the EU."

Figures released by the SMMT on Thursday showed the UK's car industry was performing strongly, with almost 1.3 million vehicles produced in the nine months to September - a 10.5% increase on the same period last year.

Just over one million vehicles were produced for export markets.