Toyota, Nissan eye UK rebate over Brexit - Nikkei

Toyota and Nissan want to be reimbursed by the UK over any extra customs charges, should Brexit talks fail.

That’s according to the Nikkei newspaper on Monday (October 5).

It says Japan’s top two carmakers want payments to cover the extra 10% tax on automobile imports that the EU would impose should Britain crash out.

The Nikkei didn’t cite any sources for the report.

Officials for the firms declined to comment, but a Nissan executive expressed concern about a disorderly exit.

Over the weekend UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he didn’t want a no-deal departure, but that the country could live with it.

However, the Nikkei report underscores how such circumstances could make companies reassess their UK operations.

Toyota produced about 8% of the 1.52 million cars made in the country in 2018.

Nissan employs about 7,000 people at a major plant in Sunderland, in the northeast.

Back in 2016 it pledged to build its revamped Qashqai SUV there, and said it had had assurances that Brexit would not affect its competitiveness.

However, in June the Japanese company said the Sunderland factory would be ‘unsustainable’ if Britain leaves the EU without a trade deal.