Nissan Motor Co. has canceled plans to build electric vehicle powertrains at its Sunderland plant in the U.K. that would have seen an adjacent supplier investment of 48.7 million euros ($65.4 million).
Its vehicle transmission business unit, Jatco, had intended to expand production of EV powertrains to power two new vehicles and meet expected consumer demand, per a Nissan company statement of Jan. 16.
This also raises doubts over future production plans at the plant for EV versions of Nissan’s flagship Qashqai (similar to the Rogue Sport in the U.S.) and the compact urban Juke. Both are models for which on-site powertrain production was at the core of the project.
But following a report of the project’s cancellation in Japan’s Nikkei, a spokesperson for the company confirmed to that a review under the RE:Nissan global turnaround strategy led to the decision not to proceed.
Nissan’s strategy will see the loss of 20,000 jobs globally and the closure of seven of its production plants by 2027.
“As part of this, the decision has been taken not to localize production of 3-in-1 electric vehicle powertrain to the U.K.,” the spokesperson added in comments emailed to WardsAuto.
The canceled 138,840-square-foot Jatco production facility, in this economically deprived northeast of England, had been touted as creating up to 183 high-skilled jobs.
