Nissan and its partners have announced a £2bn plan to build three electric car models at its Sunderland factory.

The Japanese company will produce electric models of the Qashqai and Juke alongside the next-generation electric Leaf, which is already in production at the plant. The scheme will directly help maintain the jobs of around 6,000 workers and has the potential to retain thousands more jobs across the UK.

Nissan said this would also require a new large-scale battery factory known as a "gigafactory."

This is a further gigafactory already under construction by our partner AESC, in addition to the current factory adjacent to the car factory.

Nissan will spend £1.12 billion to prepare its UK facilities, supply chain for new cars and train staff.

The company says the total new investment, together with the Gigafactory, will be up to £2 billion.

AESC chairman Lei Zhang said the company had begun a feasibility study into expanding its Gigafactory operations in Sunderland. The plan is expected to receive government support, but it is unclear what form that will take. Nissan has confirmed it will receive £15 million in funding for its research center in Bedfordshire.

The Unite union said the plan would "secure the long-term future of the site and the thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs it will support", but called for more government support for the car industry.

Nissan Motor Co.'s now-retired chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said earlier this year that the UK is struggling to remain competitive with other car-producing countries as manufacturing costs rise due to utility costs and inflation. He said he would.

Alan Johnson, Nissan's senior vice president of manufacturing and supply chain, told the BBC's Today program that the UK "could be a competitive playing field for car production, but everything has to be right".

"Not only the power plant itself, but also the surrounding environment such as energy costs, infrastructure, and local (and) national government support need to be suitable for the power plant to function," he said.

The UK government is supporting Nissan through its Automotive Transformation Fund, which received a £2bn boost in its autumn statement on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson declined to comment on how much money the company receives from British taxpayers.

"The support we have received so far has been fantastic and we are very grateful for the support we are receiving," he said.

"The truth is that discussions with the government are ongoing and have not been concluded. Therefore, I am not in a position to announce or comment on any figures at this time."

The government's contribution to Nissan's project is said to be around 100 million pounds, and if the Gigafactory goes ahead, that funding will increase to around 100 million pounds.

Nissan's announcement comes after the government approved an "investment zone" in the north-east of England. The government has announced that it will create more than 4,000 jobs over five years.

Brexit
Mr Gupta also warned in the summer that Britain's biggest car manufacturing plant in Sunderland would become "unsustainable" without a post-Brexit trade deal on tariffs.

The rules, due to come into force in January next year, will impose a 10% duty on cars sold between the UK and the EU unless the carmaker sources at least 45% of its components by value from the UK or the EU. will be done.

Batteries are the most expensive part of electric cars, and some manufacturers in the UK and EU say the requirements will be difficult to meet and have called for the rules to be delayed.

Mr Johnson said Nissan exports 80 per cent of the vehicles it makes at its Sunderland plant, "so of course exports are critical to our success."

"In terms of the Brexit deal, we are very much in the process of getting that deal done," he said, adding that key to Nissan's strategy was "making major investments in the UK, such as battery production."

Other automakers have also expressed concerns about the tariffs.

Stellantis, which owns Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat, said in May it may have to close its UK factories unless the government renegotiates the EU withdrawal agreement.

The company said it was working on manufacturing electric cars in the UK but would exit the business if costs "became uncompetitive and unsustainable".

The AESC factory in Sunderland is currently the only factory making electric car batteries in the UK, but Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata plans to build a £4bn factory in Somerset.

Some battery companies are having problems setting up in the UK.

Britishvolt, which had plans to manufacture batteries in the north-east, came to power earlier this year. The facility was taken over by Australian company Recharge Industries, but things have not gone smoothly either, with £2.5m of the purchase price still unpaid months after it was due.

In contrast, 35 plants are operating, under construction or planned in the EU.

In September, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a major shift in UK environmental policy, extending the ban on new petrol and diesel cars by five years until 2035.

Nissan stated this in September. The rest will not change their schedule and will stick to producing electric vehicles only by 2030.

Company boss Makoto Uchida said at the time that this was the right thing to do for its business, customers and the planet.

The extension of the ban has had a knock-on effect on the number of electric cars expected to be sold in the UK by 2027.

The government's independent economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said on Wednesday that only 38% of new cars sold in the UK in 2027 will be electric, down from the 67% predicted in March.