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The European Union and Britain are currently heading for a Brexit without a trade deal. Should it come to that, Toyota and Nissan, Japan’s largest automaker, want to ask the UK to reimburse them for the additional costs. Both companies have large production plants in Great Britain, with which they mainly supply the European market.
As the financial newspaper “Nikkei” reports, Toyota and Nissan expect additional taxes of ten percent on car deliveries to the EU if the UK reaches a no-deal Brexit. Automakers have yet to comment on the report.
Nissan, however, raised concerns to the Reuters news agency about the possible effects of a no-deal Brexit on European businesses: “We urge negotiators in the UK and the EU to work together towards an orderly and balanced Brexit that works for both Pages will further promote beneficial trade. “
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that he was not aiming for a Brexit without a deal, but that Britain could live with that outcome of the negotiations. The deadline to negotiate a trade agreement expires at the end of the year, the remaining time is already extremely tight.
UK government promise to Nissan
The Nikkei report highlights that many companies could reconsider the profitability of their UK businesses in a no-deal Brexit. There is the threat not only of higher costs, but also that additional customs controls could slow down business operations.
Toyota operates a plant in Derbyshire, central England, where it produced around eight percent of the 1.52 million cars made in the UK in 2018. The engines are also made in a factory in Wales.
Nissan has a manufacturing plant in Sunderland, northeast England, employing 7,000 people. This factory would be “unsustainable” if the UK left the EU without a trade deal, Nissan said in June.
Nissan announced in March that it was pushing plans to build its new Qashqai model in Sunderland. When the automaker first announced the £ 52 million ($ 67.4 million) investment in 2016, it said it had received assurances from the UK government that Brexit would not affect its competitiveness. The company could possibly reference this promise in its claims.
