Nissan’s announcement that Jaecoo owner Chery is ready to take over one of the two production lines at its underutilised Sunderland plant neatly illustrates a wider trend: that Japanese car companies are facing an existential crisis in Europe as their fingertip hold on a difficult market is now starting to crumble in the face of Chinese competition.
All Japanese brands bar Toyota are struggling to compete in the region and Nissan is the latest to admit that it can no longer commit to developing models just for Europe.
