Report: Nissan Could Sell Plants in Spain, U.K.

Nissan Motor Co. may sell off factories in Spain and the U.K. as it looks for ways to adjust production capacity to sales demand, sources tell Bloomberg News.

The company controls less than 3% of the European car market, where its sales skidded 26% to 305,600 units through the first nine months of 2019.

Bloomberg says the carmaker is pondering a plan to supply Europe with a piston-powered vehicle from Japan and reconfigure its remaining European facilities to make electric cars.

The news service didn’t say which European factories Nissan would consider selling. The company already has reduced output at its factories in Barcelona, Spain, and Sunderland, U.K. The former facility is running below capacity. Nissan has warned that the British plant could become economically unviable if the U.K. crashes out of the European Union with no new trade deal in place.

Sources tell Bloomberg that Nissan may drop production of its slow-selling Micra small car at partner Renault SA’s factory in Flins, France.