The company said told the BBC, that it will move additional battery production close to the plant where it has 6,000 direct employees and supports nearly 70,000 jobs in the supply chain. Currently, the batteries in its Leaf electric cars are imported from Japan.
Speaking to the BBC, Nissan's chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said the Brexit deal was "a positive" for the car manufacturer and being the largest automaker in the UK it is “taking this opportunity to redefine auto-making in the UK”.
This is great new for manufacturing in the north east of England, as last year, Nissan said the plant was under threat, as the resulting tariffs on cars and components would make the Sunderland operation “unsustainable”.
Manufacturing the more powerful batteries in the UK will ensure its cars comply with trade rules agreed with the EU requiring at least 55% of the car's value to be derived from either the UK or the EU to qualify for zero tariffs when exported to the EU.
Some 70% of the cars made in Sunderland are exported and the vast majority of them are sold in the EU.
Nissan yet to be confirmed whether the decision will create more jobs at Nissan's Sunderland factory, the UK's largest automotive plant, where the thousands are employed in the production of the Leaf, Qashqai and Juke models.
