Nissan faces 'uncomfortable' pressure from Chinese brands

As a volume manufacturer, Nissan is among the most vulnerable to fast-moving, aggressive Chinese importers. "The Chinese are putting us in an uncomfortable situation," said Max Messina, Nissan's new head of Europe. "The pressure on the margins has been very significant." Nissan was itself once a leading threat to the British car industry with its quality imports from Japan, but then the company was persuaded to locate manufacturing in Sunderland and went from being a threat to a local hero. After kicking off production in 1986 with the Bluebird, Nissan rose to become one of the two biggest car makers in the country, along with JLR. Now, however, it's Nissan that is the local player on the back foot and the upstarts are the Chinese, with the likes of MG, Jaecoo and BYD luring away Qashqai buyers with high-spec, high-value hybrids and electric SUVs. Last year, Chinese makers accounted for 9.7% of the UK's new car sales - and 12.7% for new EVs. Output from Nissan's facility in Sunderland - comprising the Qashqai, Juke and now the reborn Leaf SUV - is sold across Europe, but its biggest market is the UK, which accounts for around a third of Nissan's European sales, followed by Spain and Italy. It's Nissan's misfortune that those markets are also the three biggest for the Chinese in Europe. Nissan's financial problems are a global issue after recording a £3.8 billion net loss in the 2024-25 financial year. But Europe has been consistently one of its worst-performing regions and lost the equivalent of £172.2 million in the six months from April to September last year. Despite this, Nissan has continued to back its Sunderland plant after closing its only other European base, in Barcelona, in 2021. But with new CEO Ivan Espinosa targeting the equivalent of £2.4bn in cost cuts globally, the company's European operations are under scrutiny like never before. Messina's previous roles -as one of Nissan's regional chief financial officers and a former automotive turnaround specialist - make him ideal to trim the fat. "Each day, each month, I sit down with my executive team and I count each euro that comes to my P&L [financial statement ," he said. "We are marching towards our objectives." Recent examples include cutting the main Qashqai production line to just one shift, axing 250 jobs and downsizing Nissan's London design studio. However, stripping the payroll has its limitations and growth remains the preferred option. The Sunderland facility built 276,000 cars in 2025, almost half the plant's capacity of 500,000. The Leaf and Juke EVs are expected to boost numbers In 2026. "We need to feed the plant as much as possible, said Messina. Operating closer to capacity lowers the cost per car but still leaves a shortfall to Chinese makers, which are working to completely different financial metrics. "The market there is stagnant, and probably for most Chinese OEMs their operating profit margin is close to negative," said Messina. "They need to absorb the capacity by moving vehicles in Europe, which will be for them an incremental profit, even at a lower margin." Messina didn't want to publicly call for greater protection in terms of tariffs, but Nissan clearly has an ally in the UK government in its battle to compete with the Chinese. "The UK is a challenging place to manufacture cars and be competitive," said Nissan's head of manufacturing for Europe, Alan Johnson. As well as injecting funds reportedly amounting to multiple millions to support Nissan's EV transformation of the Sunderland plant, the UK government has also structured its new Electric Car Grant to ensure the Leaf qualifies for the full £3750 incentive. That brings the starting price of the longest-range Leaf to £32,249, undercutting or matching shorter-range Chinese electric SUVs like the MG S6, Geely EX5 and BYD Atto 3. However, Nissan is keen to avoid being talked of as a rival to the Chinese or even other volume makers. "I don't want to be arrogant here, but we believe our cars are better, said Messina. "And if I acknowledge that our product is better, then this has to come into pricing and be valued as such."

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Nissan faces 'uncomfortable' pressure from Chinese brands

Nissan's European operations are feeling the heat from the success of new competitors, even with a UK plant

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Nissan faces 'uncomfortable' pressure from Chinese brands

Nissan's European operations are feeling the heat from the success of new competitors, even with a UK plant

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