UK's Largest Car Plant May Not Survive Brexit

United Kingdom 's largest car plant, the Nissan facility in Sunderland, may not survive Brexit, unless the UK strikes a deal with the European Union that maintains tariff-free trade in cars, according to Nissan COO Ashwani Gupta.

EU membership allowed UK-made vehicles to be exported across the bloc tariff-free.

But unless a trade deal is made with the EU, Nissan vehicles made at Sunderland will be slapped with 10 percent tariffs when selling to EU markets.

The threat of new trade barriers has greatly influenced Nissan's actions, including scrapping plans to build its new X-Trail SUV at the factory, partly blaming the uncertainty over Brexit.

A transition period designed to protect trade since the UK left EU in January ends in December.

The Nissan plant in Sunderland, which was was churning out 442,000 cars a year as of 2018, employs around 6,000 people and supports another 27,000 jobs in its supply chain.

The plant has survived the coronavirus pandemic and a major corporate restructuring.