(Updated with statement from Renault, context)
by Gilles Guillaume
PARIS, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Nissan announced on Tuesday that it would halt production of cylinder heads at its Sunderland site in northern England from the start of 2024 on behalf of Renault, the latter being turned to another supplier deemed more profitable.
“From the start of 2024, Nissan’s Sunderland plant will cease production of cylinder heads at the site. We do not expect this to result in job cuts and we are working with staff to redeploy them to other areas. of the company,” the Japanese automaker told Reuters, confirming reports from Sky News.
Nissan employs around 250 people in this production of cylinder heads – the upper part of the engine – for petrol units fitted to Renault vehicles.
“Following a study on the most profitable supply of cylinder heads, Renault Group has found another supplier from 2024,” explained a spokeswoman for the diamond group.
For several years, Renault has been implementing a vast savings policy and an ambitious strategic repositioning to improve its financial situation.
The termination of the contract with Nissan will not fail to fuel questions about the future of the alliance between Renault and its Japanese partner, recurring since the disgrace of Carlos Ghosn who had long embodied it.
Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi expect that more than 80% of their models will be based on common architectures in 2026, but the question of the convergence of the three groups’ strategies for the following decade remains unanswered.
The alliance is now based on a more pragmatic logic of shared projects or not, with each time a “leader” and a “follower” depending on technologies and geographies.
Renault announced several months ago that it had offered Nissan between 10 and 15 new avenues of work, on which the Japanese group has not yet given an answer. (Gilles Guillaume report, edited by Jean-Michel Bélot and Bertrand Boucey)