Nissan to cut 10% of Europe workforce in global restructuring

Nissan plans to cut about 10 per cent of its workforce in Europe and combine its two production lines at the UK’s Sunderland plant, as part of a global restructuring aimed at easing the Japanese carmaker’s financial difficulties. 

The company started talking to its workers on Tuesday about plans to cut 900 office workers in European countries including France, Spain and the UK. The group currently employs around 9,300 people in the region.

It will also consolidate its two production lines in Sunderland with the Japanese group holding talks with China’s Chery and other potential partners about building cars using the plant’s spare capacity.

The company declined to comment on the discussions on Tuesday but added that it was exploring “opportunities with third parties to maximise plant utilisation” — which is hovering at about 50 per cent.

In a statement to the FT, the company said the measures were “essential to protect Nissan’s future in Europe, safeguard jobs in the long term and ensure we can profitably compete in Europe”.

The UK plant’s future had been called into question by a massive restructuring programme at Nissan involving some factory shutdowns and 20,000 job cuts worldwide.

This is a developing story