Posted 09/01/2018 11: 39: 11CET
The company wants to strengthen its leadership in the segment of electric vehicles and crossovers
MADRID, 9 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Japanese carmaker Nissan will stop producing the Pulsar and NV200 passenger models (Evalia) at its Barcelona plant starting in June and July, respectively, the company said in a statement.
The Japanese manufacturer will continue to manufacture in the Ciudad Condal the diesel van NV200 and the electric series e-NV200 with greater autonomy, up to 280 kilometers, and that incorporates the battery that assembles the new Leaf, 40 kilowatt hours (kWh), for export global.
According to company sources told Europa Press, this change in production will not have an immediate impact on the employment of the plant, which currently has more than 3,000 workers, since the launch of a new generation of pick-ups, the Nissan Navara, the Renault Alaskan and the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, will compensate for the suppression of Pulsar production.
In addition, they claim that the Japanese entity does not intend to incorporate into the Catalan plant a new model that goes in line with the Pulsar, which manufactured between 20,000 and 25,000 units in 2017, according to provisional data.
The Nissan plant in Barcelona started its activity in 1983 and in its last fiscal year (from April 2016 to March 2017) it assembled more than 110,000 vehicles. In 2017, it exported 87.5% of its production, surpassing the current average of Spanish exports in the automotive sector, which is 85%.
The president of the Asian entity in Europe, Paul Willcox, stressed that the decisions taken by the company are the result of a change in the market demand of European customers and a new trend. “Nissan’s focus is to strengthen our leadership in the segment of electric vehicles and crossovers,” he said.
The company expects a significant growth of the electric vehicle market in the coming months, mainly due to the more restrictive urban mobility regulations and the increased interest of companies and individuals in zero-emission mobility.