Nissan want tariff protection compensation for any eventual trade costs resulting from Britain’s exit from the European Union before committing to more investment in its UK plant, said CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Nissan is due to make a decision early next year on where to build the next Qashqai SUV – long before the terms of Brexit are likely to be known.
“If I need to make an investment in the next few months and I can’t wait until the end of Brexit, then I have to make a deal with the UK government,” Ghosn told reporters at the Paris auto show.
“If there are tax barriers being established on cars, you have to have a commitment for carmakers who export to Europe that there is some kind of compensation,” he said.
Nissan builds the Qashqai, Europe’s best-selling compact SUV, at a factory in Sunderland, northwest England, along with other models including the Nissan Leaf and Infiniti Q30.
Yesterday, Britain’s International Trade Secretary Dr Liam Fox said that he wanted a deal with the EU “at least as free” as the present arrangements.
He added that anything else would be bad for all the people of Europe, whatever some politicians on the continent might say about the need to show Britain that leaving the EU is not cost free.