Czech firms vie for orders from Nissan

•   The supplier forum for Nissan is taking place on 27-28 September 2017 in Sunderland, Great Britain

•   CzechInvest is holding the event in cooperation with CzechTrade and the North East Automotive Alliance

•   Fourteen Czech firms are vying for orders for drivetrain components and interior parts 

A two-day supplier forum at which fourteen Czech firms are vying for the opportunity to supply parts to Nissan’s factory in Sunderland, Great Britain, began today. The forum is being held by CzechInvest in cooperation with CzechTrade and the North East Automotive Alliance, the biggest automotive cluster in Great Britain. Together with drivetrain component manufacturers and suppliers of interior parts, the Czech start-up Battswap is presenting its system for immediate electric-vehicle battery exchange.

“We have been cooperating with Nissan since 2005. At present, the company is very interested in innovative firms that are bringing out new and interesting technological solutions,” says Karel Kučera, CEO of CzechInvest. “Firms such as Battswap, which took part in our CzechDemo programme and exhibited at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco a few days ago.”

Nissan plans to build new Qashqai and X-Trail models at its factory in Sunderland. Besides the start-up Battswap, the firms offering their products and technologies to Nissan include Almet, Gumotex, SKD Bojkovice and Tawesco, among others. On Wednesday, their representatives toured the production facilities at the Sunderland factory and took part in one-to-one meetings with Nissan’s purchasers. On the second day of the event, they will participate in the North East Automotive Expo, where they will present themselves to other potential customers at the Czech pavilion.

“On the European scale, northeast England is currently at the top in terms of technology, especially in the area of electric and self-driving automobiles,” says  Martin Macourek, director of CzechTrade’s foreign office in London, who also emphasises that, although the forum is primarily intended for Nissan, it is also being attend by the biggest British carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, with which CzechTrade’s London office cooperated on a similar event in the past. Interest has also been expressed by the third-biggest vehicle manufacturer, Toyota, and the renowned Aston Martin, which is currently completing its new factory in Wales, enabling it to expand its portfolio to seven luxury and sports vehicles. Besides direct supply, there is also interest among carmakers in production technologies.