Nissan has added its weight to recently expressed UK automotive sector concerns over new trade arrangements that could add tariffs and additional border checks when the UK leaves the EU in 2019.
In a statement sent to just-auto, Nissan stressed that the UK manufacturing facilities in Sunderland are a part of Nissan's European production base that sells primarily to the European market.
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"Since 1986, the UK has been a production base for Nissan in Europe. Our British-based R&D and design teams support the development of products made in Sunderland, specifically for the European market," the statement said.
It went on to stress how important 'frictionless' trade with continental Europe has been to its UK plant's growth.
"Frictionless trade has enabled the growth that has seen our Sunderland plant become the biggest factory in the history of the UK car industry, exporting more than half of its production to the EU," it said.
The statement also called for greater clarity on the UK's future trading relationship with the EU and warned that a sudden resort to WTO rules (for example, under a 'no-deal' Brexit) would have 'serious implications for British industry'.
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By GlobalData"Today we are among those companies with major investments in the UK who are still waiting for clarity on what the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU will look like," the statement said. "As a sudden change from those rules to the rules of the WTO will have serious implications for British industry, we urge UK and EU negotiators to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade."
