UPDATE: Nissan Asks U.K. for Help in Boosting Local Content

Nissan Motor Co. has asked the British government for help in finding more local suppliers for cars it builds in the U.K. in an effort to avoid higher tariffs when England leaves the EU.

Nissan wants the government to spend £100 million ($124 million) to attract more auto suppliers to the country. The Financial Times says Colin Lawther, who heads Nissan manufacturing in Europe, told Parliament’s international trade committee the company “will not succeed in the future, with or without Brexit, unless the government does something to help us in the supply chain.”

Like other carmakers in the U.K., Nissan’s huge factory complex in Sunderland assembles vehicles with components that sometimes travel back and forth repeatedly between mainland Europe and England. When the U.K. quits the EU about two years from now, those components could face multiple 5% tariffs.

On average, only about 40% of the content of British-assembled cars is supplied locally today, Reuters says, citing the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. SMMT suggests that post-Brexit trade deals between the U.K. and EU members are likely to require at least 50% local content to satisfy “rules of origin” that would reduce the tax exposure.