Nissan will close one production line at its Sunderland plant and seek about 900 job cuts across Europe as part of its RE:Nissan recovery plan.
Nissan will close one of its production lines at its Sunderland plant and is seeking to cut about 900 jobs across Europe, the carmaker has announced.
The Japanese-owned manufacturer said it would combine two production lines at the UK factory into one, but said no jobs would be lost as a direct result of that production change. The broader job reductions are expected to come from talks affecting roughly 10% of Nissan’s European workforce.
The company said the measures form part of its RE:Nissan recovery plan, aimed at making the business more streamlined and better able to respond to changing market conditions.
A Nissan spokesperson said the company had opened discussions with European employees “with a view to simplifying our structures, reducing complexity, and ensuring we operate in a sustainable and profitable way.”
The proposals include the partial closure of Nissan’s warehouse in Barcelona and a shift to an importer model in Nordic markets. At Sunderland, the company said it would consolidate production while it considers future options to make fuller use of the plant.
Nissan is understood to be considering working with an external company to use part of the Sunderland factory, though the details remain unclear. The company has not confirmed which firms it may be speaking to.
The Sunderland plant is one of Nissan’s major European manufacturing sites, making any change to its production setup closely watched by workers, suppliers and the wider regional economy. For now, the company has drawn a distinction between the Sunderland line consolidation and the separate European job-cutting talks.
The next key question is how those talks with employees proceed, and whether Nissan reaches an agreement that brings another operator into part of the Sunderland site.
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