London — Nissan will pump 1.12 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) into its British plant to build electric versions of two models, offering a boost to the country’s auto industry and a UK prime minister desperate to attract foreign investment.
The Japanese automaker said Friday that its plans for electric versions of the Qashqai and Juke, produced in Sunderland in northeast England, would require a total investment of up to £2 billion ($2.5 billion), including a third battery plant in Britain and infrastructure projects that its partners would help to finance.
The project is expected to receive UK government support.
Nissan has made its electric Leaf model in Sunderland for years and will continue to do so, with batteries supplied by a small plant at the site.
In 2021, the company announced a $1.4 billion investment to build a second, 9 gigawatt-hour (GWh) battery plant in Sunderland with Chinese partner Envision AESC.
Friday’s announcement comes just a few days before Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Global Investment Summit, when he will try to revive interest among overseas companies, which have cooled on Britain since the Brexit vote in 2016.
“Making the UK the best place to do business is at the heart of our economic plan,” Sunak said in a statement on Friday.
Nissan did not comment on the value of any subsidies or guarantees being provided by Britain.
“Government support is always important,” Nissan’s senior vice president for manufacturing and supply chain Alan Johnson told BBC radio. “Discussions are ongoing with the government, (and are) not concluded.”
Sunak will host Nissan President and chief executive Makoto Uchida at the summit next week.
Nissan’s investment will help support jobs for 7,000 workers in Sunderland and 30,000 people in the supply chain, and builds on a presence in Britain dating back to 1986.
For the Japanese company, Britain is a key hub. Its 2021 battery investment was a show of confidence when other foreign investors were avoiding the UK after Brexit led to years of uncertainty around the country’s trading relationships.
But Sunak, who became prime minister a year ago, is having some success turning that around.
The Nissan deal comes just months after India’s Tata Motors said it would invest £4 billion ($5 billion) in a UK electric vehicle battery plant to supply its Jaguar Land Rover factories.
Industry experts had described the Tata battery plant as good progress, but argue Britain needs much more EV battery production capacity to maintain a viable, growing auto industry.
Nissan plans to offer only fully electric cars in Europe by 2030. It said it would announce the names of the new EV models and timings for production launches at a later date.
The automaker’s latest UK investment comes despite Sunak’s decision in September to delay by five years a ban on sales of new petrol cars.
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