Nissan has announced that it will be cutting hundreds of jobs at its UK factory in Sunderland following poor financial results.
The Japanese manufacturer said it would be axing around 250 jobs, or four per cent of its 6,000 workers at the Sunderland plant, over the coming months.
The job cuts, which will be removed through a voluntary redundancy scheme, will not impact manufacturing staff.
Nissan's Sunderland factory builds the Qashqai and the Juke and was the beneficiary of a £2billion investment boost in 2023.
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Nissan's Sunderland factory will see 250 jobs cut through voluntary redundancy
NISSAN
In May, Nissan announced that it would be forced to cut 20,000 jobs across the company, in addition to closing seven manufacturing plants after it reported a net loss of 670.9 billion yen (£3.4billion).
At the time, Nissan could not confirm which plants would be impacted, with President and CEO Ivan Espinosa saying it looked to boost its operations in Europe.
Despite this, jobs will be lost at its only European manufacturing plant, with Sunderland also being the largest car factory in Europe and the city's largest employer.
A spokesperson for Nissan said: "In order to support future competitiveness, this week we are beginning discussions with some of our team in Sunderland about the opportunity to voluntarily leave Nissan, with support from the company.
Nissan's Sunderland manufacturing factory is the biggest employer in the city
PA
"This will support the plant’s efficiency as we aim to become a leaner, more resilient business. Our Sunderland plant remains at the forefront of our electrification strategy."
Although it sold more than 3.3 million units in the 2024-25 financial year, the manufacturer reported an 88 per cent drop in its profits, marking the worst total in 25 years.
Nissan has dealt with difficulties in recent years, including the rise in competition from Chinese brands and a slow uptake of electric vehicles.
Nissan currently has five all-electric models, including the Micra, Leaf, Ariya, Townstar and Interstar, in addition to the Juke, Qashqai and X-Trail hybrids.
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The announcement comes less than two years after the Yokohama-based company pledged £2billion to the Sunderland factory to produce two new electric vehicle models.
This doubled down on its plans to produce all-electric replacements for the Juke and Qashqai models as it aims to have all new vehicles sold in Europe be electric by the end of the decade.
Speaking at the time, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the investment as a "massive vote of confidence" to the UK's automotive sector.
Nissan announced the launch of its new Qashqai e-POWER, which is built at the Sunderland plant. It has a total range of 745 miles, fuel efficiency of 62mpg and CO2 emissions of 102g/km.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and ex-Chancellor Jeremy Hunt visited Nissan's Sunderland plant in 2023 PAWhile the investment was welcomed, the factory still deals with issues, especially with energy costs, as highlighted by the UK's automotive industry body, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
In April, Alan Johnson, senior vice president for manufacturing at Nissan, told MPs that the UK was not making it easy for brands to manufacture vehicles.
He said: "It is energy costs, it is the cost of everything involved in the cost of labour, training. It is the supplier base or lack of. All sorts of different issues. We are in a competition, you have to compete.
"Every time there is a piece of legislation that impacts on automotive, it needs to help us, not hinder us. It is difficult enough as it is at the moment. We need the market to be there."
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