It was December 2021 when the last Nissan vehicle was docked in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone. Yesterday, an agreement was formally signed between the Spanish Ebro and the Chinese Chery to produce up to 150,000 cars in 2029 with an investment of around 400 million euros between private and public contributions. The ratification of the pact will allow the reinstatement of 1,250 former Nissan workers, of whom nearly half were unemployed.
The plans are ambitious because in these Barcelona facilities, the year when the most cars were manufactured were 195,000 and currently the signatories of the agreement will only occupy two thirds of the facilities, union sources warned. At the moment, only 50,000 are expected to be added in 2027. And despite the fact that more than a thousand workers will be employed, the figures are far from those of Nissan in Barcelona before closing, since the historic plant had 3,000 direct workers and around 13,600 more indirect workers.
Even so, all parties involved in the reindustrialization process considered the Ebro and Chery project a success. The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, were present at the protocol ceremony of the agreement at the Zona Franca facilities. The Ebro and Chery reindustrialization project consists of two parts. A first in which the historic Ebro brand, which disappeared in 1987 – owned by a group of Spanish investors – will be reborn with the construction of several electric vehicles. The second part is the coupling of Chery vehicles to the facilities. All through a joint company between the two. It will start with the Omoda 5 – initially the petrol version – with parts from China, but later the electric version of this model will be made and then the Jaecco 7, a vehicle of a higher range, will also be manufactured.
Yesterday's event is another step in the strategy of Chinese manufacturers to enter Europe amid the transition process towards the electric car and doubts about the position to be followed by Brussels. The Asian giant BYD plans to build a plant in Hungary.
In his speech after the signing of the agreement, the President of the Spanish Government assured that the pact shows the "total commitment of the Executive with Catalonia and Barcelona, in all areas and especially in the automotive sector ". The head of the Executive added that the reindustrialization of Nissan is "an exemplary model of public-private collaboration to promote a common goal and preserve quality employment." The president of the Generalitat emphasized that the reindustrialisation of Nissan is an example of companies choosing Catalonia to invest and he praised the work of the Ministry of Business and its head, Roger Torrent. The Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, was also present at the event.
The arrival of Ebro and Chery is the result of a long process that began in 2019 (before Nissan closed), when the president of the UPM (Unió Patronal Metalúrgica), dependent on Public Works, Jaume Roura, met in Wuyu (China) with Toungyue Yin, CEO of Chery Automotive. Later, when the cessation of Nissan's activity was already confirmed, the UPM brought a Chery team led by Zhang Guibing to Barcelona in November 2022 to establish the first contacts with the administrations. The giant Goodman, which won the competition to manage the old Nissan facilities, has an operating contract for 50 years and an investment commitment of 100 million euros. The audit and consulting services firm RSM has advised Chery in the process.
In the period, other alternatives were sought, such as that of the also Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motors (GWM), which ended in nothing. What did take root was the Silence electric motorcycle factory, of the Acciona group, which occupies part of the facilities.
The unions CC.OO. and the UGT celebrated the agreement, but demand "clarification" of some details about the jobs. In a statement, the organizations demanded a meeting with the joint company to detail "important" issues, such as the number of vehicles that will be manufactured, when they will begin to be manufactured or specific employment data. The unions say that the information has only reached them through the media. CC.OO. he said that the landing of the Chinese firm gives "economic consistency" to the project and the UGT pointed out that it is a "significant advance" in the process.
Among the anecdotes of the event, it stands out when Sánchez cited the Muñoz brothers, from the musical group Estopa, as some of the personalities who showed solidarity with those fired at Nissan.
