Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019 - 27

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

TALK FROM THE TOP

the next year and a half. We are launching
the new Juke now, then we will add the new
Qashqai and X-Trail. Plus, the new electric
crossover, previewed by the Ariya concept.
How will the new models help your
price structure?
The combination of our aging lineup and
our move into more profitable channels
meant we could not just focus on volume
because it would create a significant discrepancy in the price position of the vehicles. We wanted to avoid this. All the
new vehicles will have a reasonable price.
What are the restructuring actions?
To try to be as lean as possible, we have
restructured the Barcelona plant, affectNissan Europe expects a big boost from the arrival of the seconding about 600 to 700 people, due to the
generation Juke.
reduced volumes. This process, which is
underway now and was approved by the
unions, includes voluntary redundancy
schemes. We also cut the third shift at
our Sunderland plant in the UK due to If it means the implementation of WTO about 30 percent of sales. We are adapttariffs of 10 percent, the overall busi- ing ourselves to follow that trend, but a
the contractions in volumes.
ness equation is not sustainable for us more relevant question is: What's the fuWere there job losses at Sunderland? because 70 percent of our vehicles are ture of conventional engines? We underesOnly about 100 to 200 people.
timate the weight of the future regulation.
exported to Europe.
This summer Nissan talked about Are you reconsidering whether to build One part of that is related to automakers
hitting the fleet target of 95 grams per kiloworldwide job cuts of around the next Qashqai there?
meter starting next year. We know how to
12,000 and a 10 percent reduction
Our assumption is that we will produce be within the targets. But the EU says we
in capacity utilization. Are those
the Qashqai at Sunderland. If you want have to go to 75g/km by the end of 2024.
700 to 900 jobs the extent of the
to make any change of that magnitude it How many conventional engines can reach
European losses?
takes time because it takes years to cre- that threshold? None of them. So how is
We do not expect additional reductions. ate the ecosystem needed to support the the business going to be sustainable if we
What is the future for Barcelona. production of a new vehicle. We have been do not adapt ourselves to that trend? The
preparing the launch of Qashqai for a while. second factor is the impact of local taxes
Does it need another model now?
that customers will have to pay based on
The strategy is to continue production Where else could you produce it?
of pickups [the Nissan Navara, Renault The best solution is to produce the car in the level of CO2 their cars produce. For exAlaskan and Mercedes X class are made the UK because Sunderland is one of the ample, in the Netherlands the tax bill can
there] and the e-NV200 electric van. We most efficient plants we have. It's also an be as high as 20,000 euros per car.
stopped production of the NV200 with exceptional factory in terms of quality. But What percentage of your sales will be
the conventional engine but estimate the
I'm warning everyone that if there is a hard electrified models by 2022?
number of e-NV200s will rise significantly.
Brexit and the UK government and EU au- In our most recent midterm plan we asOf course, as for any other plants, we are
thorities do not agree to stop tariffs, that sumed the overall electrified market will
discussing locations for new vehicles.
would make the overall equation unsustain- be about 20 percent to 24 percent by
2022, but we want 42 percent in Europe.
One report said you were looking to able for us in the long run.
sell your European plants. Is that true?
Why do you want to be that far above
What is Brexit's toll on Sunderland?
We do not normally comment on specuthe overall market?
lation. We plan to continue producing The high degree of uncertainty we have We want to position ourselves on the higher
the e-NV200 and the pickups in Barce- been living with is creating a problem be- end because we are convinced that if you
lona. I do not see an opportunity to sell cause any decisions on where to locate want a sustainable business model in Eua new vehicle for production are on hold.
the plant at the moment.
rope that meets both corporate and cusYou previously said a hard Brexit would What is your diesel mix now and when tomer regulations, you need to be far above
that average. We want everybody to know
make your business case for Sunder- do you foresee diesel sales ending?
ANE
We have seen a significant drop in diesel to that Nissan is about electrification.
land unviable. Is that still the case?

2019

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Automotive News Europe - Talk From The Top Supplement - December 2019

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