by Kate Holton and Nick Carey
London (Reuters) – Automaker Stellantis has said factories in the UK could close, threatening thousands of jobs, unless the terms of the Brexit deal are drastically renegotiated.
The world’s number 3 car manufacturer Stellantis, which owns fourteen brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroën and Fiat, has told British MPs that it will face customs duties when exporting electric vehicles to Europe from next year, when new measures will come into force.
The post-Brexit trade treaty negotiated with the EU will require from 2024 that at least 45% of the value of vehicle parts must come from the EU or the UK to be exempt from customs duties.
Stellantis wants the UK and the European Union (EU) to extend the current rules until 2027 on parts supply.
A request supported Wednesday by the American manufacturer Ford in a separate press release.
“The tariffs will affect both UK and EU based manufacturers, so it is vital that the UK and EU agree on a solution,” the carmaker said. American.
The British government has said it is in talks with Brussels.
“We hope to reach an agreement with the EU on the subject,” said a spokesman for the British minister, Rishi Sunak, on Wednesday.
In addition, manufacturers believe that the United Kingdom must also attract more battery production plants to secure the future of its automotive industry.
British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt said on Wednesday that his country would invest in this direction.
“The consequences of failure are clear. We are talking about 800,000 jobs in the United Kingdom, it is basically the trades associated with the automotive industry”, indicated to the BBC Andy Palmer, president of InoBat, European manufacturer of batteries, and former CEO of Nissan.
Only the Japanese Nissan has a small electric battery production plant in Sunderland, while a second site is under construction.
(Reporting by Kate Holton, Sarah Young, Gokul Pisharody and Giulio Piovaccari; Zhifan Liu, editing by Kate Entringer)
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