Aston Martin boss calls for other car manufacturers to get same Brexit deal as Nissan

Nissan’s announcemed last week that it would build two new models at its Sunderland plant following government ‘support and assurances’

Andy Palmer said that any deal offered to Nissan should be ‘enjoyed by everybody’ (Getty)

The chief executive of Aston Martin has called for the Government to extend assurances provided to Nissan to other carmakers.

Andy Palmer’s comments come after Nissan’s announcement last week that it would build two new models at its Sunderland plant following government “support and assurances”.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Palmer said carmakers that have factories in the UK, including Honda Ford and Toyota, should benefit from the same deal as Nissan after the UK leaves the EU.

He said: “Any deal that’s been done – normally that should levelise and everybody should enjoy it”.

It also follows alarm from Haruki Hayashi, the president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in the UK and chief executive of Mitsubishi in the EU, who urged Britain to give more than “general reassurances” to Japanese firms or risk putting investment decisions at risk.

If Britain failed to conclude a free trade deal with the rest of the EU and was forced to fall back on basic World Trade Organisation rules, British car exporters could face tariffs of up to 10 per cent.

Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, last week revealed in a TV interview that the Government told Nissan it would seek a tariff-free deal with the European Union for the car sector in Britain.

Production of Nissan’s next Qashqai model is expected to begin in 2018 or 2019.

Theresa May hailed the decision as a vote of confidence in the UK.

However, whether the Government will be able to follow through on promises to the likes of Nissan is unclear. Shadow Chancellor John MacDonnell told The Independent that the “worrying” aspect of the Government’s approach “is that we are seeing a make it up as they go along strategy delivered in the TV studios and not debated in Parliament”.

“This means that it leaves more questions than answers and puts the UK economy in a position of being hostage to fortune rather than deciding its own destiny,” he added.

Swati Dhingra, a lecturer at the London School of Economics who specialises in trade, said: “The government really can’t give them these assurances.”

“It’s really a case of the EU having to give this to the UK.”

Kenichi Ohmae, one of Japan’s top business strategists, said Nissan’s decision to build new cars in Britain will not be enough to persuade other businesses to remain in the country following the Brexit vote. He predicted investment in Britain will decline in the wake of the referendum result and said he is advising companies to hold fire on similar decisions.