Nissan

In the historic English plant in Sunderland, Nissan and Chery could soon coexist. In France, Stellantis will share a plant with Dongfeng, while in Spain Ford is considering hosting Geely. The crisis of historic brands is leading them to “sublease” partially unused factories to Chinese rivals.

Global car manufacturers want to become more Chinese, here’s how. An in-depth analysis by the weekly magazine The Economist

Nissan is reducing production at its main plant in Europe, in Sunderland, and is preparing to cut 900 positions across the Old Continent, mostly in Spain, while Honda is freezing all plans for an almost 10 billion euro electric car gigafactory in Canada. Both Japanese brands are facing a severe crisis due not only to tariffs but also to Chinese competition. For this reason, the two companies are forced to save as much as possible.

Recent global events and the need to revive the struggling Japanese brand have pushed Nissan to scrap its plans for American electric cars and focus entirely on traditional SUVs and pickups, which are definitely more appealing to the broader American audience.

After the closure of seven production plants, the cutting of 20,000 jobs, the cancellation of the 2025 Nismo Fest, and the sale of its main subsidiary in Yokohama to remain there as a tenant, Nissan is trying to restart: fewer models and more high-tech investments to compete with China.

Uber, which with its arrival has shaken taxi drivers worldwide, now seems to want to unseat drivers from the driver’s seat: there are indeed numerous partnerships underway to prepare for the advent of robotaxis, also providing data collected during the service to serve as a “driving school” for AI.