Nissan could decide to end production of its Juke subcompact SUV in the UK after the country voted to leave the EU.
Nissan Chief Performance Officer Trevor Mann declined to give assurances that Juke output will continue at the automaker's factory in Sunderland, northeast England.
Mann said making a decision on where to build the Juke for European markets will be difficult until it is clear how the UK and EU will trade together.
Nissan is continually reviewing investments, he said. "We make all our decisions on merit and added value to shareholders. We make them based on what we know, and right now we don't know," Mann told Automotive News Europe at the Paris auto show last week.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said at the show that the automaker may ask the UK government for compensation as a condition for making new investments if Nissan has to pay tariffs to export from the UK to the EU.
Brexit negotiations between the EU and UK are expected to take two to three years. Ghosn said Nissan could not wait so long to decide on new investments.
Nissan builds the current Juke at its plant in Sunderland, northeast England. Last year the company said it would invest to build the second-generation Juke in Sunderland, without giving a start date. "This announcement gives security to our Sunderland plant beyond 2020," the company said at the time. Media reports have said the new Juke will go on sale in 2018.
Around 80 percent of Nissan's Sunderland output is exported, mostly to EU markets.
Nissan Chief Performance Officer Trevor Mann declined to give assurances that Juke output will continue at the automaker's factory in Sunderland, northeast England.
Mann said making a decision on where to build the Juke for European markets will be difficult until it is clear how the UK and EU will trade together.
Nissan is continually reviewing investments, he said. "We make all our decisions on merit and added value to shareholders. We make them based on what we know, and right now we don't know," Mann told Automotive News Europe at the Paris auto show last week.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said at the show that the automaker may ask the UK government for compensation as a condition for making new investments if Nissan has to pay tariffs to export from the UK to the EU.
Brexit negotiations between the EU and UK are expected to take two to three years. Ghosn said Nissan could not wait so long to decide on new investments.
Nissan builds the current Juke at its plant in Sunderland, northeast England. Last year the company said it would invest to build the second-generation Juke in Sunderland, without giving a start date. "This announcement gives security to our Sunderland plant beyond 2020," the company said at the time. Media reports have said the new Juke will go on sale in 2018.
Around 80 percent of Nissan's Sunderland output is exported, mostly to EU markets.