The United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, a move known as Brexit, has forced Nissan to reconsider its plan to build the Ariya electric crossover at its Sunderland production facility in the UK. In fact, the factory’s entire future is now possibly in jeopardy as most of the cars being built there were sold in the EU and they could now incur 10 percent tariffs.
Currently some 7,000 people work at the plant and while it has survived Nissan’s recent global restructuring plan, it still doesn’t guarantee its future, especially if Nissan doesn’t succeed in striking its own deal with the EU and UK to still allow it to export cars into Europe under similar terms to the pre-Brexit days. Negotiations are still taking place right now and this has yet to be settled upon.
So where does this leave the Ariyas that were going to be sold in the European Union? Well, Nikkei Asia reports that if said deal is not agreed upon, Nissan will most likely just import them from Japan whose deal with the EU means they only have a 7.5 percent tariff imposed on them. In fact, this tariff will be completely done away with come 2026, so planning ahead, this still makes sense for Nissan.
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This means that both for Europe, North America and most other markets, Nissan will ship Ariyas from its factory located in the Tochigi Prefecture, in Kaminokawa, close to Tokyo. For China, the vehicles will be manufacturer by Nissan locally, possibly through a joint venture deal.
Source: Nikkei Asia