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The reindustrialization of the old Nissan plant has been successfully completed, with the maintenance of industrial activity linked to electric mobility and with the aim of guaranteeing all jobs. This is the result of a complex process within the framework of the reindustrialization table, which has had the participation of the Government of the Generalitat, together with the representatives of the workers, public administrations and Nissan.
Specifically, the solution combines the presence of two manufacturers of electric vehicles, the Electromobility Hub and Silence, with a part of logistics activity through the company Goodman, which has been awarded the management of the Free Zone land . Silence has already started its activity in recent months, while the Hub will begin to carry out the first contracts imminently. For its part, Nissan will maintain its design center in the area.
The projects that will occupy the land of the Free Zone are strategic for the country, linked to the objective of the Generalitat to reindustrialize Catalonia to generate quality jobs and shared prosperity.
The Minister of Business and Work, Roger Torrent i Ramió, assured that “the culmination of Nissan’s reindustrialization process reinforces the commitment to continue maintaining a benchmark automotive industry in southern Europe, now adapted to the challenge of green mobility, essential to face the climate emergency. In this sense, the minister explained that this is also “great news for the auxiliary industry in the sector, especially the many SMEs that make up this industrial fabric in our country.”
Torrent recalled that “this process, which has been very difficult to achieve, ends with agreements and commitments that respond to the three main objectives that we had set for ourselves: the coverage of jobs, guaranteeing industrial continuity and doing it, in addition, with related projects to sustainable mobility”.
The minister made these statements at the ratification of the agreement for the reindustrialization of the land in the Free Zone occupied by the Nissan company, where the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Government of Spain, Reyes Maroto Illera, and the delegate of the State in the Barcelona Free Zone Consortium, Pere Navarro Morera.
The act was also attended by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Natàlia Mas i Guix, as well as members of the reindustrialization board and representatives of Goodman, the Hub of Electromobility and Silence.
The automotive sector has a very important weight in the Catalan economy. Specifically, it generates 150,000 direct and indirect jobs in Catalonia and invoices almost 25,000 million euros, which represents more than 10% of the country’s GDP.
Currently, the mobility and automotive sector is in a situation of change and must face great challenges such as the vehicle connected to its environment; the autonomous vehicle; electromobility and the reduction of emissions; changes in mobility consumption patterns; the entry of new actors (artificial intelligence, big data, electronics and sensors, technological giants…); digital transformation; and the competition for talent and the industrial and consumer power of China, among others.
