Epilogue

Abstract

Sunderland’s operations proceeded before the schedule in fulfilling British local contents and accordingly exporting to the continent. The launch was a success and achieved its first turnover in 1991, gaining British manufacturer status from the SMMT the same year. While maintaining Britain’s largest car exporter status, it failed to reach its maximum annual output throughout the 1990s. Due to its financial difficulties back home Nissan sought to reduce assembly costs, rather than reaching the maximum output, which brought Primera’s local contents up to 90%. It was the new ruler Carlos Ghosn who boosted the output and immediately achieved the goal. But his arrival was paid harder in Sunderland than in Japan. British local contents were replaced by those of Renault, the prospect of hard-Brexit merely adding to uncertainty than improvement.