Nissan will cut hundreds of jobs at its Sunderland plant in UK

Nissan builds its Qashqai and Juke models at the northeastern English site but sales in Britain.

Nissan will cut hundreds of jobs at its Sunderland plant, Britain's biggest automotive factory, as it tackles declining demand for diesel models across Europe, a source told Reuters on Friday.

Nissan builds its Qashqai and Juke models at the northeastern English site but sales in Britain, Europe's second-largest car market, have fallen 35 percent so far this year, far worse than overall demand in the sector, which is down 12 percent.

Jaguar Land Rover is cutting around 1,000 jobs and production at two of its English factories after a fall in sales which the industry has partly blamed on confusion over government diesel policy, with a tax hike has come into force this month.

Earlier reported that Nissan Motor Co announced plans to sell 1 million electric vehicles (EVs) annually by 2022 and said it would focus its lower-emissions lineup on all-battery and gasoline-hybrid EVs rather than costlier technologies including plug-in hybrids.

Nissan and its rivals are planning to crank up development and production of electric cars in response to tightening emissions regulations around the world, even as demand for such vehicles remains limited due to their high cost and limited charging infrastructure.

The Japanese automaker said it would develop eight new all-battery EVs over the next four years, including four models for China, where it is planning to expand. Its luxury Infiniti brand would begin carrying new electric models from 2021, it added.

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