Nissan chief's warning to MPs

A SENIOR Nissan boss has warned that the UK is “not a competitive place to be building cars”.

- DANIEL HOLLAND

Just weeks after the manufacturer reduced operations at its Sunderland plant, one of the company’s top bosses told MPs yesterday that the Government must do more to support the country’s automotive sector and that it was simply too expensive to build here.

Alan Johnson, the senior vice president for manufacturing, supply chain and purchasing for Nissan's Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania operations, told members of the House of Commons’ Business and Trade Committee that the Sunderland factory “pays more for its electricity than any other Nissan plant in the world”.

He said: “We are in a competition, you have to compete. It is becoming more and more evident to me that manufacturing vehicles in high volume in the UK is not competitive. It is not a competitive location to be building high volume production these days.