The old Nissan plant in the Free Zone returns to production with the first Ebro cars.
Chinese car manufacturer Chery confirms its commitment to Barcelona. Amid tensions over European tariffs on electric vehicles from China, Chery executives descended on the Ebro plant, a former Nissan plant in the free trade zone, this Saturday to demonstrate that the company continues to support its existing industrial alliance. based on Ebro, a historic local brand of trucks and tractors that disappeared in the late 80s. Thus, production was resumed at the plant where production of the first pre-series of the Ebro s700 SUV began a few weeks ago.a model that revived the brand and brought back operations to facilities that had been shut down for nearly three years following Nissan’s departure.
“Today marks a new step in cooperation between China and Spain in the automotive sector. Our collaboration will be the impetus for Ebro to once again become a very well received brand in Spain and Europe. I hope this will serve as an example of bilateral relations between both countries,” said Chery President Tongyue Yin in a message full of meaning. After both companies signed an agreement to reopen the Free Zone in April, doubts returned when, a few months ago, the start of Chery production at the Ebro plant was delayed until 2025 due to European tariffs, which was originally scheduled to start this year with Omoda 5. petrol and electric model.
Shortly after the announcement of the delay in the arrival of Chery, a state-owned company based in Wuhu, government president Pedro Sánchez made an official trip to China, as his ambassador to Spain Yao Jing recalled at the same event. this Saturday, which was also attended by National People’s Congress Standing Committee Chairman Zhao Leji. During Sanchez’s visit to China, Spain changed its position and asked for a review of the European Commission’s new taxes, which also affected Seat and other important sectors for the country, such as pig farming. “It has not been an easy journey, but finally this historic plant is producing cars again,” said Industry Minister Jordi Jereu, accompanied by Generalitat President Salvador Illa and consultants Albert Dalmau, Alicia Romero, Mikel Samper and Jaume Duch. They were also present former advisors from ERC, such as Natalia Mas and Roger Torrent.
With pre-production of the Ebro SUV already underway, the first s700 vehicles will go into production in the coming weeks and are expected to go on sale in December this year through 30 dealers. It will be followed by the s800 SUV. Both are created on a platform and technologies common to Chery. They are mid-sized, with the s800 being the largest, with combustion and plug-in hybrid versions with a range of 90 kilometers in electric mode and awaiting production of 100% electric cars from Ebro.
Ebro production will operate in one and a half shifts with 44 cars per shift.“In 40 years we will see Ebro cars on our roads again. We are confident that this is the beginning of a great alliance,” said its President Rafael Ruiz. To make that possible, 150 to 200 workers have returned to the production line, according to Miguel Ruiz, a USOC union official and the most visible face of Nissan employees since the Japanese firm announced it was leaving the plant in 2020. in the midst of a pandemic.
In the first stage, the car will be delivered semi-assembled from China and will be assembled in the Free Zone. Later next year, welding, painting and assembly processes will be carried out in Barcelona, including for Chery cars, bringing on board more former Nissan workers with a goal of reaching 1,250 employees when the plant is at full capacity. Ebro plans to produce more than 20,000 vehicles in 2025.
