I've just been reading a Financial Times report on the Nissan decision.
Like the BBC report it says that it was down to a decline in diesel vehicle sales and new Euro emission regulations.
It’s kinda weird ain’t it. The boss of Nissan says the current BREXIT situation was a factor in their decision to reverse their plans to build the X-Trail at Sunderland, but then Jacob Rees Mogg and Matthew Vincent at the FT seem to suggest the Nissan boss is telling fibs!
So I had a look at Mathhew’s argument. He says the latest Euro 6 legislation is making it more expensive to build the X-trail. But Euro 6 has been applicable to all new models for almost 5 years now. And it applies to all manufacturers. Euro 7 is on it’s way, but as yet is not fully defined and not expected to come into force until 2025. This is not something that has cropped up since Nissan made it’s original decision to build the X-Trail at Sunderland. Nor does Mathew explain why he thinks that because of Euro 6 legislation it will be cheaper to manufacture in Japan.
Diesel sales are down, but this is because of the media miss-leading the public. Governments want to find ways of getting polluting pre-Euro 5 diesels off the road.
Anyway on the same page, a wee video presented by the FT’s Peter Campbell accepts that BREXIT, as we all know, was indeed a factor.
The FT also report the Business Secretary Greg Clark’s BREXIT related concerns in realtion to Nisaan cancelling the deal.
Nissan are proud of their Sunderland plant. They have a number of times described Sunderland as the companies best performing assembly plant. But for Nissan to continue to invest in the UK they need certainty.
The things they need, are a strong and stable currency. No export quotas and single market access. It’s clear from the cancellation of the X-Trail that Nissan do not feel as confident about Sunderland as they have in the past. With the new Japanese free trade agreement, whilst it may cost them more to manufacture in the Japan for the EU market in the short term, they have absolutely certainty moving forwards. Manufactuering needs long term stabilty. Today that is not on offer in the UK.