Nissan boss says it’s ‘too expensive’ to build cars in the UK

A senior boss at Nissan has warned MPs that the UK is no longer a “competitive place to be building cars”.

Alan Johnson, senior vice president for manufacturing, supply chain and purchasing for Nissan's Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania operations, told MPs on the House of Commons' Business and Trade Committee that the Sunderland factory “pays more for its electricity than any other Nissan plant in the world”.

He said: “It is energy costs, it is the cost of everything involved in the cost of labour, training. It is the supplier base or lack of. All sorts of different issues.

“Ultimately, the UK is not a competitive place to be building cars today.”

A late shift at the Sunderland plant was closed in February, but no jobs were lost after some 400 affected workers were moved on to other lines.

The Government is banking on its industrial strategy to create the right conditions for increased investment.

Nissan announced last year it would be cutting about 9,000 jobs worldwide. Approximately 6,000 people are employed at the Sunderland plant.

Johnson also called for more to be done to incentivise the sale and production of electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK.

He welcomed changes to the zero emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate, announced earlier this month, and told MPs that the impact of US tariffs on the Sunderland plant was "small", though the company as a whole was “impacted significantly”.

President Donald Trump has introduced new import taxes of 25% on cars and car parts entering the US, with a 10% blanket tariff also applied to all US imports from the UK.

A North East Combined Authority meeting heard recently that road vehicles and components account for 30% of the North East's exports across the world. However, less than 6% were exported to the USA, leaving the region “less exposed” than other areas.