Nissan’s new chief executive has said the Japanese carmaker would be open to building cars for a Chinese partner at its factory in Sunderland after he confirmed it would not be closed in a round of deep cost cuts.
This week Nissan revealed plans to close seven factories and cut 20,000 jobs after sustaining heavy losses.
Ivan Espinosa said on Thursday the UK plant at Sunderland would not be among the factories to close and he would consider building cars for China’s Dongfeng.
Sunderland, where it employs 6,000 people, is Nissan’s only factory in Europe and Britain’s single largest car factory, and Espinosa reiterated plans to build at least two new electric models there.
However, the Sunderland plant has been running under capacity for several years. In 2024 it made only 282,000 cars, down 14% from the year before, and well below its 600,000 capacity.
Building vehicles for another company could help make the factory more profitable, as well as providing more jobs.
Nissan and Dongfeng already work together to build cars in Wuhan, China. Asked about the possibility of Dongfeng building vehicles in Sunderland, Espinosa said: “We are quite open to collaborate with them.”
“Everything is on the table,” he said, speaking at an industry conference run by the Financial Times.
“We could leverage some of our joint work outside of China, inviting them to come into our production ecosystems.”
Credit: THEGUARDIAN