‘Compensation For The Brexit Or We’ll Build The All-New Qashqai Elsewhere,’ Nissan Tells Britain

Still reeling from the consequences of its poorly thought-out exit from the European Union, Britain received another body-blow at the Paris Motor Show with Nissan-Renault chief Carlos Ghosn putting the future of the made-in-the-UK Qashqai Crossover/SUV on the line.

An all-new Qashqai is in the pipeline and the pragmatic Mr Ghosn told the media he “will not make such an important investment decision in the dark”.

At question is Nissan’s plant in Sunderland in the north of England which is actually the largest vehicle manufacturing plant in Britain, employing more than 7000 people and producing 500,000 vehicles per year – many of them exported to Europe.

Bigger picture: Britain is currently the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in Europe, and with tariff-free exports as part of the EU, around 80 percent of production is sent across the channel.

But with Britain tipped to trigger its exit from the EU early 2017, it will then take years to negotiate trade deals with individual European countries.

UK