Enlarge image
The Nissan plant in Sunderland
Photo:
OLI SCARFF / AFP
61 percent of the people in Sunderland in north-east England voted for Brexit in 2016, although this city of all places is particularly dependent on functioning supply chains.
7,000 people in Sunderland work at the Japanese car maker Nissan's plant.
There was great concern that jobs would be threatened by Brexit.
Now, however, Nissan has announced that it will continue to invest in the plant.
In Sunderland, a new electric car is to be produced in the future, as the company announced.
A new battery plant for Nissan partner Envision AESC is also to be built in the city.
The batteries could be used to equip 100,000 electric vehicles a year, it said.
Overall, Nissan wants to invest a billion pounds (1.16 billion euros) and create 1,600 new jobs.
Some of the money comes from the UK taxpayer.
Nissan and the government in London did not want to reveal how much subsidies are flowing.
Economics Minister Kwasi Kwarteng only said that it was a "considerable sum".
Preservation of production is important for the government
For the government in London, maintaining Nissan production in the Brexit stronghold of Sunderland is an important prestige project.
As recently as 2018, Nissan cut hundreds of jobs in Sunderland because the demand for diesel models had fallen.
The British automotive industry has suffered massively in recent years from Brexit, the corona crisis and falling demand for diesel vehicles.
The number of cars built in the country has recently risen again, but production is still well below the level of five years ago.
The UK automotive industry is heavily dependent on export.
More than 80 percent of the cars manufactured in the country go abroad, over half of them to the EU.
hba / dpa / Reuters