Nissan will shut one in all its two manufacturing strains at its Sunderland plant as a part of a cost-cutting train by which the Japanese agency will remove 900 positions in Europe.
Sunderland builds the brand new electrical Leaf, the Juke and the Qashqai, and all will now run down the identical line. Nissan confirmed that no jobs on the plant could be misplaced on account of the transfer – however some roles within the UK might go as a part of the 900 throughout Europe.
The closure of the road marks the decline of manufacturing numbers at Nissan’s sole European plant. The manufacturing facility constructed 273,174 automobiles final 12 months, down from a excessive of greater than half one million.
Nissan stated in an announcement that it was taking measures “to create a leaner, extra resilient enterprise that adapts shortly to market adjustments”. Measures underneath assessment embrace the partial nearer of its Barcelona components warehouse and a transfer to an importer mannequin in Nordic nations.
Nissan is hoping to draw a second automobile maker to take over line one at Sunderland sooner or later, with Chinese language makers Chery and Dongfeng each linked to manufacturing at the positioning.
The profitable sale of line one would protect jobs and enhance manufacturing on the firm, Nissan stated.
The closure of the road is anticipated to occur within the second half of the 12 months, with line two transferring to 3 shifts to compensate for the lack of capability.
Former Nissan govt Andy Palmer, who began his profession at Sunderland, expressed disappointment on the announcement. “Any discount in capability is dangerous information for Nissan and dangerous information for Sunderland,” he advised Autocar.
Like all Japanese producers, Nissan has been hit laborious by elevated competitors in Europe, particularly from the Chinese language. Its market share within the UK fell to three.7% within the first 4 months of 2026, down from 5.6% in 2016.
Chery, in the meantime, had a share of just about 5% by way of April, because of the success of its Jaecoo, Omoda and Chery manufacturers, in line with information from the SMMT. MG additionally beat Nissan at 4%, whereas BYD was shut behind at 3.45%.
Nissan has been slashing prices globally, together with shuttering seven crops, as a part of a marketing campaign underneath CEO Ivan Espinosa to revive its fortunes following a £3.8 billion loss within the monetary 12 months ending March 2025.
Globally the corporate has been hit by elevated competitors in all markets, together with China, as properly a hike in import tariffs on its exports to the US.
Earlier than the announcement of the closure of line one at Sunderland, the plant had been comparatively unaffected by the cuts.
Help from the UK authorities helped safe it manufacturing of the brand new electrical Juke, because of begin on the finish of the 12 months.
