From the BBC:
Car sales plunge as Nissan warns on Brexit
That's two quite distinct issues which have distinct causes. One did not cause the other, despite what the BBC's headline implies.
Why have car sales 'plunged'..?
Since 1 September, all cars sold in the EU have had to undergo a new test known as the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure. This has replaced all existing tests of emissions and fuel economy and has caused carmakers to struggle to cope.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "With the industry given barely a year to reapprove the entire European model line-up, it's no surprise that we've seen bottlenecks and a squeeze on supply. These are exceptional circumstances, with similar declines seen in other major European markets. The good news is that, as backlogs ease, consumers and businesses can look forward to a raft of exciting high-tech cars and a market keen to recover lost momentum."
So, because of the EU rushing through some new regulations.
What are Nissan (and most other manufacturers) worried about..?
The carmaker said that frictionless trade as part of the EU single market had enabled the growth that had seen its Sunderland plant become "the biggest factory in the history of the UK car industry, exporting more than half of its production to the EU".
It added: "Today we are among those companies with major investments in the UK who are still waiting for clarity on what the future trading relationship between the UK and the EU will look like. As a sudden change from those rules to the rules of the WTO will have serious implications for British industry, we urge UK and EU negotiators to work collaboratively towards an orderly balanced Brexit that will continue to encourage mutually beneficial trade."
And rightly so, the UK government and the EU are equally to blame for messing manufacturers around like this.
(Simply rejoining EFTA and remaining in the EEA would solve most of this at the stroke of a pen; why Nissan assume the UK will leap straight to WTO rules instead of shouting "Rejoin EFTA" from the rooftops is unclear.)
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