Nissan chooses Barcelona

The Japanese corporation Nissan confirmed Monday that its factory in Barcelona will build a new car model. The company expects this will create up to 4,000 direct and indirect jobs.

After a long negotiation last week with the Catalan Business ministry, CCOO and UGT unions agreed to sign Nissan’s agreement if the company guarantees the jobs of the existing staff. Nissan Motor Ibérica–the Spanish branch of the Japanese multinational–was called to the meeting and accepted the inclusion of this guarantee. Also, according to newspaper reports, new hired workers will have 20% lower salaries.

Nissan’s decision to build its new sedan car in Barcelona “will consolidate the Catalan capital as a European hub of the automotive industry, where Nissan and Seat have factories, the car supplier Ficosa is based, there is a deep-rooted motorbike industry and the Circuit de Catalunya Formula One racing track,” Catalan News Agency said.

Furthermore, the €130 million investment will represent the first sedan to be built in Nissan’s plant. The Barcelona plant will reach its maximum capacity: 82,000 car units of the new model would be produced per year and the plant would assemble 200,000 vehicles over five different production lines.