Nissan to keep Sunderland Plant Open.

[grober]

Nissan backs UK plant but protests erupt in Spain

Almost 3,000 jobs will be lost in Spain but the carmaker says its Sunderland factory will stay open.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[st13phil]

Excellent news for the Sunderland workforce

 

[Petrol Pete]

Makes a change , Nissan shutting Indonesia and Spain, it's usually the UK factories that get $hat on. I see they are already burning tyres outside the plant in Spain...that always helps your cause

Maybe Brexit had something to do with it ?


On the other hand Honda in Swindon have postponed their re start by a week and when they do fire up it will (obviously) be on lower output than usual.

Honda plan to close in June/July 2020, it would surprise no one if they closed earlier than that.

 

[whitenemesis]

That would be July 2021 ...

 

[Petrol Pete]

That would be July 2021 ...

Oops yes , fat fingers. I hope a whole bunch of Honda workers didn't see that and think I knew something they don't

 

[grober]

NISSAN IN SPAIN

With LCV production and an engineering hub based in the country, Spain is the home of Nissan’s European Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Business Unit

europe.nissannews.com

THE BARCELONA plant seems to major on commercial vehicle 4x4 production?
Altho covid-19 is mentioned I suspect this is part of a greater rationalisation program

 

[Petrol Pete]

It usually is , things like Brexit/Covid etc usually 'help' to move things along a little...

 

[slade1]

I read somewhere Honda swindon factory has never reached it's sales target and Sunderland plant is one of Nissan's most efficient factories ,high productivity.

 

[whitenemesis]

AFAIK Honda Swindon had been running at ~50% capacity for many a year.

 

[grober]

In today's highly automated car production efficiency is often correlated with the level of investment in the plant robotics rather than the efforts of the staff. Honda in the UK has often suffered also from being the most expensive Japanese mainstream manufacturer in comparison with its other Japanese rivals. They make a good product and have a loyal following but in volume terms that's maybe not enough. ------And that's before the KOREANS came into the picture!

 

[Petrol Pete]

Not sure what you mean about Honda in Swindon and 'sales targets' I have never worked there but they used to build Jazz, CRV and Civic and I think maybe the Accord at one point. Due to the way sales work worldwide they stopped Jazz production god knows when and because CRV was mainly for the Americas they stopped them in Swindon a few years ago, I think they are built in Mexico .

That left Swindon an 'all eggs in one basket' Civic site. The last incarceration of the Civic Type-R (the fastest front wheel drive car around the ring I believe) Is built there , along with all the dull stuff an that was launched in the USA , sounds brave to launch a FWD manual only car with skinny seats in the USA but I believe It has a real cult following over there ?

Swindon makes engines for Honda worldwide ie they make more engines than they make cars , and they can make over 550 cars a day , and thats just on one production line with no night shift working , the other one has been idle for a while.

 

[esscee]

So much for the "Doom mongers" and "Project Fear" .

 

[Petrol Pete]

I agree with Grober , I believe years ago people worldwide would ask the salesman to make sure the Honda Civic/ CRV they were buying was one of the 'English' ones due to the (perceived ?) better build quality. The problem now is the CRV has very strong competition and is falling behind. In my earlier post I mentioned the new Type-R , a bit of a cult car and the only one without 4WD in it's sector. You can't survive on making mass produced 'cult' cars as your bread and butter cars fall behind the competition.

But the reason Honda is closing is far more complicated than that I believe.

 

[Petrol Pete]

^^ Sorry, should read CIVIC ..not CRV in relation to Type-R.

 

[Harrythedog]

So much for the "Doom mongers" and "Project Fear" .

Like this

I wonder when they'll figure out that their next job will be one that the East Europeans used to do. Horrible jobs that no Brits want to do but are tolerable to the East Europeans for a short period. How about 60 hours a week (no more EU Working Time Directive) in a cold wet fish factory in Fraserburgh. After all, the fish don't cut their own heads off - it takes a Brexiteer to do that...

 

[grober]

Honda Accord - Wikipedia
A lot of people don't realise that the HONDA Accord [ one of the best selling mid-size saloons in America after all those pickup trucks] had entirely different models depending on market they were intended for. At the time the ACCORD was on sale in the UK [Japan built] the model destined for the Japanese/European market was completly different from the one built in the USA * [ BODY AND ENGINES wise] for their domestic market.
* represented far better value for money and was more competive than its European counterpart [ more bang for your buck]

 

[Bellow]

Like this

One plant kept open does not a successful Brexit make.

 

[Petrol Pete]

They say they might even build Renault variants in Sunderland. Imagine the riots in France if they did that at the expense of French jobs !

 

[grober]

That would be to ignore the growing schism between Renault and Nissan typified by the Carlos Ghosn affair.
Perhaps Nissan are hedging their bets with the Sunderland plant which they feel they have more control over?

Renault and Nissan are desperate for help. The alliance Carlos Ghosn built could be their only hope

The coronavirus pandemic may be forcing Renault and Nissan to rethink their strained relationship.

edition.cnn.com

 

[Bellow]

Renault have announced 15,000 job losses over three years - 4,600 in France.