The Government has agreed to make “substantial change” to the UK’s ZEV mandate sales quotas to keep Nissan’s plant in Britain, according to reports.

Stellantis, Nissan and Ford have warned for month of the impact of the UK’s EV sales targets

The Times said Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds had vowed to change the EV sales targets to address concerns from carmakers.

The national newspaper reported that Reynolds had met with Nissan in Tokyo and said: “We will do everything we can to make sure Nissan has that secure long-term future in the UK, making sure the business and regulatory environment reflects that. The whole government is absolutely of the view that you will not get to the progress around net zero and the energy transition that we want to see by closing down British jobs and British industry.”

But the move has been downplayed by government sources who insist there is “no alteration” to the headline targets of the ZEV mandate although “more generous flexibilities” may be on the cards – as under focus in the recently closed Department for Transport consultation.

The reported meeting between the Business Secretary and the Japanese car firm follows months of warnings from Stellantis, Nissan and Ford on the impact of the UK’s EV sales rules and last month’ s confirmation from Vauxhall that its Luton plant will close within the context of the UK’s “stringent” ZEV mandate.

In November 2024, Guillaume Cartier, chairperson for the Nissan Africa, Middle East, India, Europe and Oceania (AMIEO) region, said the ZEV mandate risks “undermining the business case for manufacturing cars in the UK, and the viability of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment”.

Cartier had called for urgent action from the Government by the end of the year to avoid a “potentially irreversible impact on the UK automotive sector”.

Nissan announced a sweeping restructuring plan in November, including a 20% drop in global production capacity and a 9,000 reduction in its global workforce, after the brand was hit by a slowdown in sales.

In February, the struggling car firm posted a steep drop in profits and announced a downwards revision to its full-year outlook for fiscal year 2024.

It also scrapped plans for a ‘mega-merger’ with Honda on the back of its rival’s proposal to make Nissan a subsidiary rather than an equal partner. But with Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida expected to resign within a week, according to reports, the Honda deal could be back on the table.

Nissan employs more than 6,000 people at its Sunderland plant and is investing £2bn to build future all-electric versions of its flagship Qashqai and Juke crossovers, along with the next-generation Leaf, at its EV36Zero hub.

Nissan is also working to help ensure UK readiness for autonomous driving as part of a UK government-funded consortium project that’s now completed. A fleet of fully electric Nissan LEAFs equipped with AD technology was tested on complex urban residential and rural roads to bring autonomous mobility closer to reality.

Over 21 months, the five partners – Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, Humanising Autonomy, SBD Automotive and TRL – worked to technically support UK supply chain readiness for future mass deployment of AD technologies in the UK.