Nissan's plan to close Barcelona plant draws protests

BARCELONA -- Nissan intends to close its Barcelona main plant and two nearby facilities starting in December, but it will keep open two facilities in northern Spain, the automaker's Europe chairman, Gianluca De Ficchy, said.

"There was no viable solution for the future of the Barcelona factory," De Ficchy he told reporters on Thursday as workers protested outside the plant.

Hundreds of workers blockaded the plant on Thursday after Nissan said it would shut the factory as part of a global restructuring plan to slash costs.

The decision is a blow for Spain at a time when unemployment is spiking and a steep recession is looming because of the coronavirus crisis.

The plant and the nearby facilities employ 3,000 workers and the closures could indirectly affect up to 25,000 jobs, unions say. The car industry accounts for about 10 percent of Spain's gross domestic product, according to auto industry association ANFAC.

The closure was announced on Thursday by Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida during a webcast detailing the automaker's new global business plan that includes a reduction of global production capacity by about a fifth to help cut 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) from fixed costs.

Uchida said Nissan will keep open its plant in Sunderland, England. "In western Europe we will maintain production of our core models in our UK plant in Sunderland and improve efficiency," Uchida said.

Uchida told reporters in Japan the company would discuss the situation with the Spanish government but declined to elaborate.

Nissan made the decision to end its operation in Barcelona despite proposals made by the local authorities to keep the plant running, the Spanish government said in a statement.

The closure would cost Nissan as much as 1 billion euros ($1.10 billion), the government said, urging the automaker to look at other options.

The Barcelona factory has been operating since the 1980s. It builds pickups and vans.

Nissan plans to relocate production of the Navara pickup to South Africa, while a replacement for the e-NV200 van would be built at Renault's plant in Maubeuge, France, according to reports.