Nissan to pump $1.4bln in Britain to produce two new green cars

Nissan، the Japanese carmaker، announced it would invest 1.12 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) into its British plant، the UK’s largest electric car plant، in Sunderland، northeast England، to build green car versions of two models، Qashqai and Juke، which would help support 7 thousand workers and 30 thousand people in the supply chain، offering a boost to the country's auto industry and the prime minister، Rishi Sunak،desperate to attract foreign investment.

Nissan to unveil plan to build green car replacements for its Qashqai and Juke crossover 

Nissan، Japanese carmaker، expected to unveil plan to build green car versions replacements for its Qashqai and Juke crossover cars، would require a total investment of up to 2 billion pounds، including a third battery plant in Britain and infrastructure projects that partners would help to finance and the project is expected to receive government support.

Nissan، the Japanese carmaker، would pump 1.12 billion pounds to build green car versions of two models، Qashqai and Juke، after it has made its electric Leaf model in Sunderland، northeast England، for years and will continue to do so، with batteries supplied by a small plant at the site.

Nissan invested $1.4 billion in 2021 to build electric battery plant

Reuters reported that Nissan، the Japanese carmaker، invested $1.4 billion in 2021 to build a second، 9 gigawatt-hour (GWh) electric battery plant in Sunderland with Chinese partner Envision AESC and Nissan id building on a presence in Britain which dates back to 1986.

The investment of Nissan، Japanese carmaker، comes with the  Prime Minister Rishi Sunak PM to host investment summit next week" as he tries to make the UK the best place to do business that is at the heart of the British economic plan.

Rishi Sunak's Global Investment Summit next week

The deal of Nissan، Japanese carmaker، fires the starting gun on Rishi Sunak's Global Investment Summit next week، when he will try to revive interest from overseas companies which، following Brexit in 2016 and political turmoil since، have cooled on Britain.

Alan Johnson، Nissan's senior vice president manufacturing and supply chain، confirmed that the Government support is always important and discussions are ongoing with the government، (and are) not concluded، and Nissan، the Japanese carmaker،  did not comment on the value of any subsidies or guarantees being provided by Britain.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt visit the car manufacturer، Nissan، in Sunderland، Britain، and announced that they will host Nissan President and chief executive Makoto Uchida at the summit next week.

Britain is a key hub for green car and electric battery

Nissan، the Japanese carmaker، believes that Britain is a key hub and its 2021 battery investment was a show of confidence when other foreign investors were avoiding the UK after Brexit triggered years of uncertainty around its trading relationships، however، Sunak، who became prime minister a year ago، is having some success turning that around.

The Nissan، the Japanese carmaker، deal comes just months after India's Tata Motors said it would invest 4 billion pounds in a UK electric vehicle (EV) battery plant to supply its Jaguar Land Rover factories and the Japanese carmaker plans to offer only fully green cars in Europe by 2030، adding it would announce the names of the new EV models and timings for production launches at a later date.

The investment in green car comes despite 5 -year delay to a ban on sales of new petrol cars

The automaker's investment in green car moodels comes despite the five year delay to a ban on sales of new petrol cars which Sunak announced in September and the funding is expected to come with assurances that battery production will remain in the UK، a key focus of UK automotive industry policy as it transitions from petrol and diesel to electric cars.

The news of Nissan، the Japanese carmaker investment will be welcomed by the UK car industry، as it follows recent investment announcements from India’s Tata، which will build a £4bn battery factory to supply JLR، the maker of Jaguar and Land Rover، and BMW، which is spending £600m to upgrade its factory to build electric Mini cars.

The government invested £2bn  in zero-emission technology in the automotive sector

The chancellor، Jeremy Hunt، announced £2bn of government support for investments in zero-emission technology in the automotive sector، especially green cars، and Hunt said in his autumn statement that the measure had been “warmly welcomed by Nissan and Toyota”، both of which have large factories in Britain.

The Nissan's plant makes the petrol models of the Qashqai and Juke، as well as the green Nissan Leaf as it gets electric batteries from a factory next door، run by Chinese-owned AESC،  which can make batteries with about 2 gigawatt hours (GWh) of capacity a year، but it is building much larger facilities that will aim to produce 9GWh by 2024، and eventually 38GWh، enough to make roughly 600 thousand green car batteries a year to match Nissan’s output.

The link with the British battery gigafactory becomes an advantage for Nissan electric production  

The link with the British battery gigafactory will become an advantage for Nissan electric production  in the coming years، as it will have a secure supply of British-made batteries and that could help it avoid the risk of post-Brexit tariffs on green cars exported from Sunderland to the EU.

The tariffs will be imposed on green cars without UK or EU made batteries unless the governments of the two sides can come to an agreement before a 1 January deadline as the Vauxhall owner Stellantis، JLR and Ford have said the tariffs would damage their future electric car production، but the EU has refused to reopen talks on the details of the Brexit rushed through in 2020.

Nissan had separately already announced in 2021 that Sunderland would be an electric vehicles hub، but it has not so far outlined what models it will build there، however the Leaf was for a time one of the world’s leading green cars، starting production in Sunderland in 2010، but Nissan did not build on its early lead، and was overtaken by other carmakers in the move to electric technology.