Nissan Executive Warns UK Car Manufacturing Costs Too High

Alan Johnson, Nissan's senior vice president for manufacturing, told UK MPs that the country is no longer a competitive place to build cars, citing high energy costs, expensive labor and training, and a weak supplier base as primary challenges. He revealed the Sunderland plant pays more for electricity than any other Nissan factory globally and warned that manufacturing high volumes of vehicles in the UK is increasingly unviable. Recently, Nissan closed a late shift at the Sunderland plant, but avoided job losses by reallocating roughly 400 workers to other lines, maintaining the plant's 6,000-strong workforce. The company, which plans to cut 9,000 jobs worldwide after a sharp profit drop, has urged the UK government to provide more support and incentives for electric vehicle production and sales. Johnson welcomed recent government moves to relax Zero Emission Vehicle regulations but emphasized that more needs to be done to support the automotive sector. While US tariffs have impacted Nissan globally, their effect on the Sunderland plant specifically has been minimal due to limited exports to the US.