§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for Trade and industry (1) what approaches the Nissan company has made to Her Majesty's Government seeking to modify its earlier undertakings on local content levels in the cars assembled at Washington; and if he will make it his policy not to accede to any such approaches;
(2) whether he has had discussions with Nissan over that company's output plans for its new Washington plant; and when that company now proposes to achieve an output of 250,000 units per year.
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§ Mr. ButcherNissan has made no proposals to change the terms of its Washington project. These remain as outlined in the heads of agreement between the company and the Department of Trade and Industry published in 1984. If Nissan proceeds to phase 2, production will commence by 1990 at 60 per cent. local content, rising to 80 per cent. not later than the first half of 1991. The output would be at least 100,000 vehicles per year. Any revisions Nissan might propose to the Terms of the project would be considered on their merits.
§ Mr. Roger Kingasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what commitment the Nissan company has made to export cars assembled at its Washington plant; and what proportion of United Kingdom output that company plans to export.
§ Mr. ButcherNissan does not expect to export vehicles from the United Kingdom in the first phase of its project. However, under phase 2 of the proposal, the company's commitment is that there should be substantial exports. The proportion of output exported will depend on market and other conditions at the time.