City council boss welcomes car giant’s pledge
Sunderland City Council leader, Cllr Graeme Miller, has welcomed Nissan’s pledge to remain competitive in the European market following Brexit.
Ashwani Gupta, the car giant’s global chief operating officer, pledged the firm would take Brexit as an opportunity “to redefine the auto industry in the United
Kingdom” after he revealed the deal was positive for the Sunderland plant.
Throughout the Brexit negotiations, the company repeatedly warned that crashing out of the EU without a deal would render its European business plan unviable.
But now, Mr Gupta said he believed the last minute deal, which was secured on December 30, would “redefine” the UK’s auto industry.
He said: “Brexit, for Nissan is positive. Brexit has brought the business continuity in the short-term, protects 75,000 jobs across Europe and most importantly – all of our models which we manufacture in Sunderland.”
Cllr Miller welcomed the comments on the future of the Sunderland plant.
He said: "This is another vote of confidence in the city’s world-leading automotive sector and for both Nissan and Envision AESC.
“It helps cement the city’s well-established track record in future technologies, which is vital to the city’s economy as well as to the wider economy of the region and UK.
"We know how important electrification is to the automotive and advanced manufacturing sector moving forward and this announcement not only reinforces Sunderland’s reputation in electric vehicle production but also as the UK centre for battery manufacturing.”