Nissan wants Brexit compo

Nissan has boldly asked for a deal offering compensation for tariffs resulting from Britain’s exit from the European Union, before committing to more investment in its UK plant. Nissan Motor Company CEO Carlos Ghosn outlined his position to reporters at the Paris Motor Show, Automotive News Europe reports. The Japanese company is due to make a decision on where to build the next Qashqai SUV, Europe’s best-selling compact SUV, early next year – long before the terms of Brexit are likely to be known. “If I need to make an investment in the next few months and I can't wait until the end of Brexit, then I have to make a deal with the UK government,” Ghosn says. “If there are tax barriers being established on cars, you have to have a commitment for carmakers who export to Europe that there is some kind of compensation,” he says. Nissan builds the Qashqai at a factory in Sunderland, northwest England, along with other models including the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti Q30, according to the Automotive News Europe plant assembly map. The Sunderland factory is one of the UK’s largest car factories, making 500,000 cars a year and employing 7000 people, the Wall Street Journal reports. The industry exports 80% of its production, much of it to mainland Europe, and unfettered access to the EU has helped make the UK Europe’s third-largest car manufacturer. If the UK government will not agree to compensation, Nissan will not commit to its UK plant, Ghosn says. “If the British government cannot respond...we will not go ahead,” he says in the Wall Street Journal. “We will not make an important investment decision in the dark.”