Cut taxes so we can expand plant, Nissan urges Sunak

NISSAN’S boss has called on Rishi Sunak to slash energy taxes as the company considers expanding production at its Sunderland car plant.

Makoto Uchida, the carmaker’s chief executive, warned that a levy on heavy energy users and high prices were hampering the Britain’s competitiveness.

It comes as the Japanese company weighs up whether to increase the capacity of the UK’S largest car plant, near Sunderland, which can produce more than half a million cars a year.

The combination of rising electricity bills and higher taxes for some heavy energy users is of particular concern for carmakers, who are not classed as being in an energy-intensive industry. Meanwhile, steel makers, brick makers and paper mills get a significant discount on wholesale energy costs and are also exempt from certain tariffs and taxes.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned in January that British car makers were already facing the highest electricity costs in Europe, presenting a “clear and present danger” to the industry.

Mr Uchida told an audience at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit that his company was in dialogue with the Government about increasing production at Sunderland. He described the site as a “key plant”, but urged lawmakers to promote “competitiveness, especially in the supply chain”.

The factory, which makes Nissan’s all-electric Leaf, as well as Qashqai and Juke models, is supplied by local businesses that are also being impacted negatively by soaring energy tariffs.

Mr Uchida’s plea follows a similar one from February delivered by Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s chief operating officer, who said the company needed a secure supply of parts in Britain in order for the market to remain attractive.