Nissan has officially confirmed that it will build the new Qashqai crossover at its Sunderland plant, the first major decision from a car maker since the Brexit vote.
The Japanese manufacturer’s decision means that the 7,000 jobs at the Sunderland plant will be safe, with the potential for more to be created if production of the popular Qashqai increases.
Production of the next Qashqai is expected to begin in 2018, meaning that this is a significant commitment on the manufacturer’s behalf.
As well as that, Nissan also announced that it will now build the next X-Trail SUV at the same plant, which has traditionally been built at Nissan’s Fukuoka plant in Japan.
Last month, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn intimated that Nissan may reconsider its significant investment in the UK, depending on what the British government has planned for the Brexit process.
Today, Nissan announced that it has decided to stay following “support and assurances from the UK government”, though the exact details of the assurances are so far unknown.
Given that the manufacturer previously said that it wanted guaranteed compensation for any extra costs imposed due to post-Brexit trade tariffs, it’s likely the government reached a decision on this.
The Sunderland plant was responsible for building nearly one in every three cars in Britain last year, and a full 80 per cent of the vehicles built there were exported to foreign countries.