Following a meeting between Prime Minister Theresa May and Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn yesterday, the Japanese car manufacturer will likely make a decision on its UK-based production plans by the end of the year.
SEOUL, South Korea - Oct. 31, 2016 - PRLog -- The meeting came just a month after Ghosn announced Nissan would scrap new investment into the British car-making sector unless firm guarantees were made concerning compensation costs due to the UK's decision to leave the European Union in June.
"The worst case scenario for many large scale businesses is that the UK makes a 'hard Brexit' from the E.U. and they start getting charged extortionate tariffs to get their products out of the country," said Zheng Longwei, Chief Executive Officer at CTI China Renaissance in a TV interview. "It's quite understandable that companies want to get reassurances they will be compensated if things change."
If Nissan did decide to opt in for new UK investment, most of the funds would go towards building its new Qashqai SUV model at England's largest car manufacturing plant in Sunderland. A decision needs to be made sooner rather than later on where to build the new model as it can take months to bring the car to production stage.
Nissan made around 30 percent of the 1.7 million cars produced in Britain in 2015, making it the country's single most productive company in the industry.
A source close to Nissan said that "there will be a decision made within the next few months. It is a long process but it is underway."
They also said that UK government representatives would continue to work closely with Nissan executives and there were further meetings scheduled in the coming weeks, although they did not mention if Ghosn and Mrs. May would have further discussions.
"I'm sure the UK government will do the very best they can to ensure the country remains an attractive place for car-makers to base their manufacturing," said Ghosn.
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Japanese car giant to make Brexit call by 2017
October 31, 2016 at 09:40 AM EDT
