LONDON — The automaker Nissan confirmed on Sunday that it had scrapped plans to build its new X-Trail sport utility vehicle in Britain and would produce it solely in Japan, warning that uncertainty over Britain’s departure from the European Union was making it harder to plan for the future. Nissan had said in 2016 that it would manufacture the new X-Trail at its Sunderland factory in northern Britain, the country’s biggest car plant. Last year, it cut hundreds of jobs at its Sunderland factory, as sales of diesel vehicles faltered in the wake of revelations of Volkswagen’s scheme to cheat on diesel emissions tests. “Nissan has increased its investments in new powertrains and technology for its future European vehicles,” Nissan’s Europe chairman, Gianluca de Ficchy, said in a letter to workers at the Sunderland plant. “Therefore, the company has decided to optimize its investments in Europe by consolidating X-Trail production in Kyushu.”

Source: New York Times February 03, 2019 16:18 UTC