Nissan putting £125m into Britain in car-building project

The motor industry was given a huge boost yesterday when Japanese car giant Nissan announced plans to build a new model in the UK under a £125m investment programme, creating 2,000 jobs.

The vehicle will be built at the Sunderland plant from mid-2013 in a project supported by a £9.3m grant from the Government and described by Business Secretary Vince Cable as a “resounding win”.

Some of the gloss was taken off the news when mining giant Rio Tinto Alcan confirmed it will shut an aluminium smelting plant at Lynemouth, Northumberland, less than 30 miles from the Nissan factory, with the loss of more than 500 jobs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And there was renewed speculation about a rift in the coalition about economic policy with fresh reports that Mr Cable has warned David Cameron and Nick Clegg that the Government lacks a “compelling vision of where the country is heading” beyond cutting the deficit.

The BBC reported details of a letter, first reported in the Financial Times on February 12, four days after it was written, in which Mr Cable warned that Ministers needed to articulate “a clear and confident message about how we will earn our living in future”.

The letter was leaked just minutes after Mr Cable addressed a national conference in London of the EEF manufacturers’ organisation, in which he praised the automotive industry and warmly welcomed the £125m investment from Nissan.

The workforce at Sunderland, where Nissan first started producing cars in 1986, will increase by 400 to a record 6,000, while thousands of jobs will be created among supplier firms.

It is expected that the new model, with a current concept name of Invitation, will have an initial production run of 100,000 a year.