Nissan to halt production of Infiniti cars at Sunderland factory

Japanese carmaker Nissan announced on Tuesday that it would be halting the production of its luxury Infiniti brand at its Sunderland plant by July, putting 200 jobs at risk.

Sunderland is currently the only Nissan plant building Infiniti’s Q3 and QX30 models.

The manufacturer said the move was part of its plans to withdraw from the premium car market in western Europe, where competition from Jaguar Land Rover, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz was too complicated to keep up with.

"Western Europe remains the most challenging and competitive region for premium cars," Infiniti's chief spokesman, Trevor Hale, said. Instead, Nissan will promote the Infiniti brand in the US and Chinese markets.

Nissan's roughly 200 workers at Sunderland will likely be redeployed.

“Working to find alternative opportunities for any employees who would be affected, consulting with employee representatives where necessary and identifying opportunities for transition and training support where appropriate,” the company said in a statement.

Nissan also said recently it would not be building its X-Trail at Sunderland as initially planned, even after the government pledged over £61m in funds if it did. Instead the X-Trail would be built in Japan.

Steve Bush, a national officer of the union Unite said: “This decision, which is driven by poor sales, is obviously sad news. Unite is confident however that workers on the Infiniti Q30 production line who want to stay with Nissan can be redeployed within the Sunderland plant onto other models.

“In the coming weeks Unite will be working closely with Nissan to protect jobs and ensure that redeployment is carried out in an open and transparent way. We will also be seeking assurances on future employment levels and the production of other models at Sunderland.”