Nissan sees cost of quitting Barcelona at up to $1.7 bil, source says
04 June, 2020
Nissan Motor Co has estimated the closure of its plants in Barcelona may cost up to around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion), a union source told Reuters.
The expense of the closure reaches the heart of a debate in Spain over the move, with the federal government saying it could be cheaper to keep the plants operating.
A Nissan spokesman declined to comment.
Your choice to leave Barcelona was announced by the Japanese carmaker last week within a turnaround plan, triggering protests by personnel and a committed action by Madrid to accomplish all it could to convince the company to stay.
Barcelona-based La Vanguardia newspaper on Monday cited Nissan documents as saying the closures may cost 1.45 billion euros, mostly to make around 3,000 staff redundant.
The union source said a couple of weeks ago Nissan had told staff that shutting the three Barcelona facilities may cost around 1.5 billion euros.
On May 28, your day the shutdown was announced, a Nissan executive told workers the cost could possibly be much lower, at 700-800 million euros, the source added.
However, the foundation, along with another senior union official, said the next estimate was probably unrealistic as that could barely cover redundancy payments to workers, a few of whom have been useful for more than 20 years.
In addition, Nissan would face other costs linked to suppliers and dismantling factories, the first source said, adding: "1.5 billion euros is more realistic. It isn't easy to dismantle a factory."
La Vanguardia said that among the expenses Nissan had estimated were 600 million euros for firing workers, 310 million in fiscal costs and potentially repaying 100 million of public aid.
Nissan believes it could take near to seven years to recuperate in savings the price tag on leaving Barcelona, the newspaper said.
Source: japantoday.com
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