Nissan jobs fears over sales drop

CAR giant Nissan has announced a “short term” reduction in volumes at its UK factory.

The Japanese firm said the move will affect its Sunderland plant, but declined to say if jobs will be lost.

A statement said: “As previously communicated, we are transitioning to a new range of powertrains over the next year.

“As we make the operational changes required to support this, we will be managing a planned short-term reduction in powertrain supply and plant volumes at NMUK (Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK) in line with our 2018 Business Plan.

“We are now discussing these operational changes with our employees.”

Around 7,000 workers are employed at the Sunderland site which builds the Juke, Leaf and Qashqai models - many of which are diesel.

Diesel sales have been falling amid a tax rise on new diesel vehicles, and an announcement sales of all new diesel and petrol cars and vans would be banned by 2040.