‘Nissan informed UK that car plant would be closed’

Bloomberg

Nissan Motor Co.’s decision to keep investing in Britain came after the carmaker told the government it might shut down manufacturing in the country after Brexit, according to a person familiar with the private discussions.
The Japanese automaker announced it would start making the X-Trail sport utility vehicle and the next-generation Qashqai at the Sunderland plant. But only a month ago it warned that possible tariffs could damage investment in the country’s biggest car factory. The sudden shift drew questions about what assistance the government may have promised to keep Nissan in the UK. The company made clear to the government that failure to build the two new car models in Sunderland would eventually lead to the closure of the plant, the person said, asking to remain anonymous because the conversations were sensitive. The site employs more than 7,000 people and supports another 28,000 supplier jobs.
“There’s no special deal for Nissan” or for the automotive industry as a whole, May’s spokesman, Greg Swift, told reporters in London. Still, what emerged was was that the government was informed of possible steps that Nissan would have to make to mitigate the effects of Brexit.
Models produced in Sunderland would over time probably be phased out by the automaker, and replaced with new lines, the person said. The rationale being that there is no point keeping a factory open if there is nothing to build. Other operations to support the factory — such as battery production and research and development — would also have been hit, if Nissan had not committed to the future of the plant, the person said. Former business minister Anna Soubry called on May’s administration to reveal whether it had promised to use taxpayers’ money to underwrite any tariffs imposed on the automotive industry after the UK leaves the European Union.