Nissan’s plans to build the next-generation Qashqai at its plant in Sunderland, UK remain unchanged despite warnings over Brexit.
The automaker announced a £52 million ($68 million) investment in a new XL press line at the factory as part of the £400 million ($522.6 million) overhaul of the Sunderland plant for production of the new Qashqai, expected to arrive in 2021.
The announcement comes despite Nissan’s previous warnings that if Britain’s departure from the EU leads to tariffs, its European business (including the Barcelona plant) would become unsustainable. According to Reuters, Nissan received government reassurances that Brexit would not hit competitiveness.
Read Also: Nissan To Review Car Production In The UK In Case Of No-Deal Brexit
The first body panels produced by the new press line are for the new Nissan Juke
While Britain formally left the European Union in January, trading terms will remain unchanged until the end of the year. A new deal, which has yet to be negotiated, will come into force after that. Automakers fear any additional tariffs, customs checks and regulations could add costs, slow down production and potentially grind output to a halt.
The £400 million invested for the Qashqai comes on top of the £100 million ($130.5 million) invested for the launch of the new Juke, and is part of an overall £1 billion ($1.3 billion) planned investment into the plant by Nissan over five years.
The UK is a major production hub for Nissan in Europe, with the Sunderland complex currently building the LEAF, Qashqai and Juke. More than 7,000 people work at the plant. Up until 2019, the facility also built Infiniti vehicles, but they were axed due to a slump in diesel demand. Additionally, Sunderland lost production of the next-generation X-Trail to Japan.
Nissan’s Sunderland site is the UK’s biggest car plant, having built nearly 350,000 vehicles in 2019. However, last year’s production was almost a third smaller than in 2016, when over 500,000 cars were made.
Nissan’s new XL press line at the Sunderland plant