Nissan: ‘Brexit Gives Us the Competitive Advantage’

Nissan’s chief operating officer has said that Brexit “is a positive” for the carmaker, and that it will be moving battery production from Japan to England.

“Brexit for Nissan is a positive. We’ll take this opportunity to redefine the auto industry in the UK. In certain conditions, our competitiveness is improved. For some of the cases, it is at par. It depends on which car, but competitiveness is definitely improved in electric vehicles,” said Ashwani Gupta.

“Sunderland is one of the top three plants in the world for competitiveness for Nissan. Brexit gives us the competitive advantage in the UK and outside,” the auto executive added, referring to the city in the North of England where its British manufacturing is centred.

Moreover, Gupta announced that the carmaker will move to “localise the manufacture of the 62KW battery in Sunderland so that all our products qualify [for tariff-free export to the EU],” where they had previously been imported from Asia.