Nissan claims a no-deal Brexit 'could' make its European business model unsustainable.
Its European chairman, Gianluca de Ficchy, in England to launch Juke production at Sunderland in the north east, told the BBC if a 10% export tariff was introduced after the UK left the EU it would put its operations "in jeopardy".
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This would be case if the UK moved to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules after Brexit, he said.
But de Ficchy said Nissan still intended to build in Sunderland, the UK's biggest car plant, but that it was difficult to plan for the future amid Brexit uncertainty.
Two-thirds of Juke components come from the EU and 70% of production is destined for the continent.
Nissan, which employs 7,000 in Sunderland, also has operations in Spain.
De Ficchy told the BBC the cost of moving to WTO rules would mean the "entire business model for Nissan Europe will be in jeopardy".
The car industry is the UK's biggest exporter of goods and eight out of every 10 cars built in the UK are exported.
Speaking to the BBC, de Ficchy said: "We do not know still what a no-deal means.
"There are many alternatives, and today there is a lot of uncertainty.
"The only message I can [give] is that if a no deal will be associated with the application of 10% duties under the WTO rules, that will create an enormous problem for the overall European activities of Nissan Europe.
"If we will have to sustain 10% export duties on the vehicles that we export from UK to EU, knowing that those vehicles represent 70% of total production, the overall business model won't be sustainable.
"It's not a question of Sunderland, it's a question of the overall economic sustainability of our business [in Europe]."
He said the business was asking for tariffs not be imposed if there is a no-deal Brexit.
"We are asking not to have tariffs being applied in a no-deal scenario because otherwise the tariffs won't be sustainable for us," he said.
He also told the BBC the end of Sunderland night shifts was not the result of Brexit.
