Made In UK Nissan Juke Hit By Brexit Complications, UK Cars Sales Remains Unaffected

A post-Brexit UK will have to rethink how it wishes to continue doing business with the European Union (EU). And until that happens, Nissan's Juke production plans in the UK continue to be shrouded in uncertainty.

Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said they would ask the UK government to compensate for any taxes that they might be required to pay for exporting from the UK to EU in exchange for making fresh investments in the country.

Making matter worse, any firm settlement between the UK and EU is expected to be reached in around two to three years and Nissan surely wouldn't wait that long. The new Juke is expected to reach markets by 2018 and Nissan is faced with the unexpected scenario of finding alternate production site for the Juke if talks with the UK reach a dead end.

For UK, they have a lot at stake too, considering that the Nissan Sunderland plant in Northeast England happens to be the biggest car manufacturing facility in the country, providing direct employment to around 4,500.

"We make all our decisions on merit and added value to shareholders. We make them based on what we know, and right now we don't know," said Nissan Chief Performance Officer Trevor Mann, when asked if the Juke will continue to be made at Sunderland.

Britain meanwhile reported brisk auto sales belying previous assumptions that the automobile segment would be adversely hit post Brexit, Autocar reported. According to stats released by the SMMT, there have been 469,696 cars sold in September, which marks a 1.6 percent improvement over the previous month's figure.

Ford Fiesta proved to be the biggest selling model with 19,679 unit sold followed by Vauxhall Corsa that sold a respectable 14,570 units to take up the second spot. Volkswagen Golf barely made it to the third sport with 11,003 units old, edging out Ford Focus by a mere 11 cars in the process.

Also, its diesel powered cars that showed the biggest growth while demand for alternate energy cars too remained strong. Petrol though continued to be the biggest car segment.