France and Spain to face closure of Nissan and Renault car factories that are working at low capacity due to coronavirus crisis

France and Spain to face closure of Nissan and Renault car factories that are working at low capacity due to coronavirus crisis

THE French-Japanese alliance of Nissan Motor, Renault and Mitsubishi Motors is being forced into a major reshuffle by the coronavirus pandemic that could include Nissan slashing production capacity by 20 per cent.
The partners also plan to redraw their production map in a bid to make more efficient use of their capacity.
Nissan will close a car assembly factory in Barcelona, Spain, that makes commercial vehicles and exports them overseas. The plant has been running at about 30 per cent of capacity, well below the level needed to turn a profit.
It will shift its Barcelona production to Renault plants in France and elsewhere.
Nissan and Renault have been involved in each other’s production only on a limited basis. Renault produces 70,000 Nissan vehicles per year at its plant in France, while Nissan undertakes production of the French partner’s commercial vehicles at a plant in Spain.
It has also been reported in the French press that Renault will close some of its factories in France. The factories in Choisy-le-Roy, near Paris, and the Fonderie de Bretagne, in Brittany, “should be closed,” while the one in Dieppe, where they produce the cars of the Alpine brand, could also be soon. However, the brand does not claim that there will be layoffs.