Nissan invests in UK car plant
Updated on 20 July 2009
It has been a close run thing, but tonight workers in the Nissan plant in Sunderland are celebrating the decision to site the new electric car battery plant at the car factory on Wearside. John Sparks reports.
It comes at an undisclosed cost in taxpayer's money. Tonight we look at the deal, and the price
Channel 4 News has learned that the prime minister intervened personally to secure jobs at the Nissan car plant on Wearside and stop Nissan diverting its new plant investment from Sunderland to Portugal.
In the midst of the recession, with European governments desperate to save manufacturing jobs, Nissan announced that its plant near
This could make the plant a contender to build electric vehicles.
Around 5,000 Vauxhall employees in Ellesmere Port and
The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson spoke to Jon Snow from Westminster.
The recession-battered motor industry gets a huge boost today with Japanese giant Nissan's announcement of plans to invest £200m to build batteries for electric cars, creating 350 new jobs.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson warmly welcomed the news during a visit to the firm's plant in Sunderland which is now a contender to manufacture the group's new "greener" electric vehicles.
The government also named the north east as the second Low Carbon Economic Area, including a training centre which will be the first to specialise in the manufacture and maintenance of ultra-low carbon vehicles.
Over the next two years, 750 charging points will be installed across the north east, including supermarkets, shopping centres, public transport installations, hospitals, universities, public buildings and domestic and business premises.
The first points are currently being installed in Newcastle and Gateshead. Nissan will also manufacture batteries at a plant in Portugal in its alliance with Renault.
The firm described today's announcement as a "first significant step" towards producing batteries for its zero emission mobility programme in Europe.
"The two governments have offered to extend financial assistance and other support to ensure that Nissan locates the proposed plants within their respective countries.
"This recognises the significant contribution that the plants are likely to make to the long-term health of both the national and regional economies by being central to the growth of the automotive and associated industries, boosting jobs and the skills sector and pioneering the manufacture and sale of zero emission vehicles in Europe," the firm said.
The announcement is seen as a big boost for the long-term future of the Sunderland plant, which was forced to shed 1,200 jobs in January as it battled to overcome the crisis in the motor industry.
The prime minister told workers: "This product shows that Britain will lead the way in the new, low-carbon jobs of the future.
"The message from the north east is, just as you led the way in the transport and industrial revolution, so too you are now leading the way with the low-carbon revolution of the future. "I know as a country we face challenges.
The question often asked of me is, where are the jobs of the future going to come? People are answering that question here at Nissan today."
Lord Mandelson said: "The north east has distinguished itself as the first specialised region for ultra-low carbon vehicles.
"This is good news not just for the north east, but for the whole of the UK, helping to attract foreign investment and securing the UK's place as a global leader in hi-tech manufacturing and automotive industries.
"The collaboration between local businesses, universities and colleges will create a hub of expertise to boost innovation and accelerate business growth in this important area of 'green' industry."
Low Carbon Economic Areas were announced as part of the government's low carbon industrial strategy last week, with the first based in the south west of England, specialising in wave and tidal technology.
Further areas are expected to be announced over the next six months.
Dave Osborne, national officer of the Unite union, said: "Not only is it a vote of confidence in the skills and talents of the workforce at the Nissan plant in Sunderland, it is good news on jobs for a part of the country which has been hit so savagely by this recession."
Friends of the Earth senior transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said: "Electric cars are only as clean as the energy used to power them, and the UK's renewable energy industry is still underfunded, underdeveloped and lagging way behind the rest of Europe."
Shadow transport secretary, Theresa Villiers, said: "Now is not the time for Gordon Brown or Lord Mandelson to become complacent.
Labour's record on low-carbon transport was damaged beyond repair the day they gave the go-ahead for a third runway at Heathrow."
