With MG set to build cars in Spain, at least Nissan is flying the flag for Britain

If you seek to identify the companies that are rising, falling, diversifying, redeeming themselves or in danger of disappearing, you’re currently spoilt for choice. 

On 1 June, MG announced its return to Europe as a manufacturer. Disappointingly, it’s opting for Spain, not Britain, where it has all but died as a producer. But since MG’s adoption by an Asian parent company (SAIC) resulted in the brand being put through a highly successful rebirth, rehabilitation and redemption process, it’s been left in rude health.  

Can the same be said of former big sister Jaguar, which – while also under Asian parentage (Tata) – has been more in regret, retreat and official “reimagine” mode in recent years? I’m only asking.    

Although I’m sorry we couldn’t tempt MG back to its production roots in the UK and I worry that Jag showrooms have remained scarily empty and hauntingly echoey for too long, as they await the arrival of the £120k-ish EV, I’m ecstatically happy about some other aspects of UK automotive life. None more than Nissan finally confirming on 3 June what I have, via this weekly column, been hinting at for months: the Japanese firm is in deep, highly positive discussions with Chery in the hope and expectation that the Chinese company will soon see its own vehicles rolling off one of the two lines at Nissan’s Sunderland factory. 

Currently, this plant is massively underutilised. So upping productivity levels is a must, not least to safeguard the jobs of existing workers, in addition to creating fresh employment opportunities for others in and around the region. What we have here is a great, almost genius coming together of Japan and China on British soil, thereby creating one of the most unlikely but diverse vehicle-making facilities in Europe.

Who’d have thought it? The very real prospect of Nissan’s plant being used to build Cherys in a Britain where consumers are already buying just-arrived Chery vehicles from overseas in surprisingly large numbers. The company has only been selling its models here for a few months. But industry figures published on 4 June revealed that the brand outsold Citroen, Dacia, Fiat, Jeep, Lexus, Fiat, Honda, Mazda, Polestar, SEAT, Suzuki, Tesla and several other British and foreign marques in May. All this before Chery production begins here, probably within months, not years.  

On the fascinating subject of the ups and downs of car makers old and new, I find it astonishing that while English, French, German and US-based firms (plus one Korean) sit at the top of our Driver Power survey with their highest-rated models, Japanese firms are conspicuous by their absence from this Top 10. An indication that, after more than half a century of selling its cars here, Japan has had its day?

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