Japanese carmaker Nissan will review its decision to build the Qashqai SUV in northern England if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, potentially leading to the closure of the Sunderland plant, the Financial Times reported.
The vast site holds a symbolic position in the U.K. after former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher lured Nissan there in 1986, beginning a recovery in British carmaking after its near collapse in the 1970s.
Britain's big carmakers, all foreign owned, had urged Britons to vote to stay in the European Union in the 2016 referendum and have warned ever since that they will struggle to operate if the normal European trade arteries are disrupted.