I despair, I really do. 
After a resounding Brexit vote, Sunderland fears for Nissan plant - FT.com
Top comment:
"I was at a funeral in Coventry today. One of my old school buddies who works for a tier one supplier to Jaguar Land Rover told me that JLR are are building a giant factory in the Czech Republic that is bigger than Solihull and Halewood combined. When this factory is up and running (within the EU) it will compete with JLR's UK factories for new models.
The costs in the Czech republic are significantly below the costs in the UK so if you add on tariffs for the importation then the prognosis for the UK factories looks A little worrying.
I am amazed that people who work at Nissan could have voted leave. What bit of you will lose your job did they not understand?"
After a resounding Brexit vote, Sunderland fears for Nissan plant - FT.com
Top comment:
"I was at a funeral in Coventry today. One of my old school buddies who works for a tier one supplier to Jaguar Land Rover told me that JLR are are building a giant factory in the Czech Republic that is bigger than Solihull and Halewood combined. When this factory is up and running (within the EU) it will compete with JLR's UK factories for new models.
The costs in the Czech republic are significantly below the costs in the UK so if you add on tariffs for the importation then the prognosis for the UK factories looks A little worrying.
I am amazed that people who work at Nissan could have voted leave. What bit of you will lose your job did they not understand?"
After a resounding Brexit vote, Sunderland fears for Nissan plant
Nissan's production plant at Sunderland last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU
©Bloomberg
Nissan's production plant at Sunderland last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU
The British car industry issued a clear warning: leaving the EU could put jobs at risk.
But just a few days later Sunderland, the home of Nissan, delivered its verdict: a resounding 61.3 per cent of people voted for Brexit regardless.
Nissan has declined to comment on what Brexit means for the plant, a £3.85bn investment where 6,700 people work. But rumours are sweeping the production line.
Steven, a Nissan production line worker in his 30s who declined to give his surname, said he had woken the morning after voting for Brexit and thought: “What have I done?”
“A lot of people are worried,” he said. Another employee, an engineer who also declined to be named, said: “Personally, I voted to remain. I was surprised that the figures were so high for Leave.”
He said: “I’m very worried. If we do end up leaving it is going to be difficult for the Sunderland plant to remain competitive as most of our exported vehicles go to Europe. So it will be more difficult to get new vehicles into the plant.”
Steven said workers were already worried, noting that the constant fight to win new models against fierce competition from other Nissan/Renault alliance sites left the workers living under a “dark cloud” of possible job losses should the site not keep beating the opposition.
“We have had that threat of redundancies hanging over us for years,” he said. “We have that threat all the time; it’s just been another threat.”
Speaking to Nissan employees is difficult: the company declined to allow access to the plant, and most workers drive in and out of the complex.
The UK’s biggest single car making site, the plant produces one in three UK-made cars and last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU — about 250,000 cars.
We will never know which way its Sunderland employees — or the 20,000 other people in its north-east supply chain — voted. But according to Steven, the workers around him were outspoken in their desire for Brexit.
The company did not wish to be seen to interfere in British politics, but Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive, said his preference was for the UK to remain.
Inside the plant, there was a video briefing for employees, but Steven said he had understood the message to be that how he voted was up to him. “I voted Leave because I want Britain to be Britain again,” he said.
North-east England, heavily dependent on inward investors for its manufacturing base, sends 58 per cent of its exported goods to the EU, far above the UK’s 49 per cent average. Sunderland alone is home to more than 80 overseas-owned companies employing 25,600 people. Yet within the north-east only one of 12 areas — Newcastle — backed Remain and then only narrowly.
Many Leave voters thought Nissan, now the north-east’s largest private sector employer, had too much at stake at Sunderland to pull out. This summer it marks 30 years of car production in the town.
It is unlikely Nissan would instantly withdraw from a site of such strategic significance; models include the Qashqai, the all-electric Leaf and its most recent massive investment, the Infiniti. But the threat is that, if hampered by adverse trade terms, the site may start to lose the fight for new models, ushering in decline.
Steven, unable to turn the clock back, said: “Hopefully our government, when they eventually get themselves sorted out, will put money into Nissan. If the government say don’t leave, we will make an offer you can’t refuse — hopefully that’s what’s going to happen.”
Another worker with many years of service at the company said money was still being invested and this was unlikely to change. Since Nissan workers commute from all over the north-east, Sunderland’s large majority for Leave did not necessarily reflect the vote at plant level.
He declined to say which way he had voted but commented; “We can only carry on as a plant and do the best we can.”
Nissan's production plant at Sunderland last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU
©Bloomberg
Nissan's production plant at Sunderland last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU
The British car industry issued a clear warning: leaving the EU could put jobs at risk.
But just a few days later Sunderland, the home of Nissan, delivered its verdict: a resounding 61.3 per cent of people voted for Brexit regardless.
Nissan has declined to comment on what Brexit means for the plant, a £3.85bn investment where 6,700 people work. But rumours are sweeping the production line.
Steven, a Nissan production line worker in his 30s who declined to give his surname, said he had woken the morning after voting for Brexit and thought: “What have I done?”
“A lot of people are worried,” he said. Another employee, an engineer who also declined to be named, said: “Personally, I voted to remain. I was surprised that the figures were so high for Leave.”
He said: “I’m very worried. If we do end up leaving it is going to be difficult for the Sunderland plant to remain competitive as most of our exported vehicles go to Europe. So it will be more difficult to get new vehicles into the plant.”
Steven said workers were already worried, noting that the constant fight to win new models against fierce competition from other Nissan/Renault alliance sites left the workers living under a “dark cloud” of possible job losses should the site not keep beating the opposition.
“We have had that threat of redundancies hanging over us for years,” he said. “We have that threat all the time; it’s just been another threat.”
Speaking to Nissan employees is difficult: the company declined to allow access to the plant, and most workers drive in and out of the complex.
The UK’s biggest single car making site, the plant produces one in three UK-made cars and last year exported 55 per cent of its 476,589 vehicles to the EU — about 250,000 cars.
We will never know which way its Sunderland employees — or the 20,000 other people in its north-east supply chain — voted. But according to Steven, the workers around him were outspoken in their desire for Brexit.
The company did not wish to be seen to interfere in British politics, but Carlos Ghosn, the chief executive, said his preference was for the UK to remain.
Inside the plant, there was a video briefing for employees, but Steven said he had understood the message to be that how he voted was up to him. “I voted Leave because I want Britain to be Britain again,” he said.
North-east England, heavily dependent on inward investors for its manufacturing base, sends 58 per cent of its exported goods to the EU, far above the UK’s 49 per cent average. Sunderland alone is home to more than 80 overseas-owned companies employing 25,600 people. Yet within the north-east only one of 12 areas — Newcastle — backed Remain and then only narrowly.
Many Leave voters thought Nissan, now the north-east’s largest private sector employer, had too much at stake at Sunderland to pull out. This summer it marks 30 years of car production in the town.
It is unlikely Nissan would instantly withdraw from a site of such strategic significance; models include the Qashqai, the all-electric Leaf and its most recent massive investment, the Infiniti. But the threat is that, if hampered by adverse trade terms, the site may start to lose the fight for new models, ushering in decline.
Steven, unable to turn the clock back, said: “Hopefully our government, when they eventually get themselves sorted out, will put money into Nissan. If the government say don’t leave, we will make an offer you can’t refuse — hopefully that’s what’s going to happen.”
Another worker with many years of service at the company said money was still being invested and this was unlikely to change. Since Nissan workers commute from all over the north-east, Sunderland’s large majority for Leave did not necessarily reflect the vote at plant level.
He declined to say which way he had voted but commented; “We can only carry on as a plant and do the best we can.”
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