Ebro begins activity in the old Nissan in the Free Trade Zone with more than 300 workers pending relocation

The old plant Nissan Barcelonareactivated by the historic company Ebro, began mass production of cars on November 20, with a pause of almost three years after the departure of the Japanese multinational from the factory in the Free Zone. The activity has started with a daily production of 43 cars with two work shifts. Starting in 2025, the company plans, depending on demand, to manufacture more than eighty units per day.

At this rate, in 2024 it will end up with around 800 cars produced, almost half of those promised in April, when the agreement for the reindustrialization of the facilities was signed. In a first phase, the S700 and S800 models will be sold in dealerships in Spain and Andorra. Despite the numbers and the start of the activity, the workers’ representatives regret that There is still a group of more than 300 people who have a training contractawaiting relocation.

Currently, about 730 people are employed at the Ebro plant, of which 200 will be linked to the production of cars, where in addition to the line workers, quality and logistics personnel are also included, between 200 and 300 will remain in training, another 100 workers are working to adapt the lines of the old Nissan to Ebro for when welding tasks are carried out and the vehicles are painted and around 100 are in offices or in engineering areas.

Ebro union sources have indicated to Public that “now that the productions are inaugurated and we are working to create stocks for dealers and we are not at maximum activity, it is time to rethink how mechanisms are articulated for the return of the entire workforce“In fact, the employee representative indicates that there is a group of 350 people taking training coursespending returning to their workplace when the activity resumes. In addition, there are 300 more workers who were not eligible for training contracts either by choice or due to lack of places.

Waiting for CKD format

The company predicts that at the end of 2025, when the S700, S800 and S400 models are already on the market, the three of the SUV range(Sport Utility Vehicle), utility vehicles, sales exceed 30,000 units. For its part, the staff believes that the leap forward in the activity load will occur from October 2025, in which the manufacturing of the Omoda electric model. This will be done with the more traditional CKD format, in which welding, painting, interior assembly of the vehicle and mechanics will be carried out in the Free Zone. Until then, the S700, S800 and S400 models will be produced with the DKD system, in which Barcelona would only deal with the mechanical part of the car.

A few days ago, Ebro announced the price of the vehicles and the distribution network. The S700, a five-seat compact SUV, will be available from 29,990 euroswhile the S800, designed for large families with capacity for seven seats, is offered from 36,990 euros. In relation to distribution, the firm has 12 points of sale in key provinces such as Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Valencia and Seville. Before the end of this year 2024, the firm hopes that the network will achieve more than 30 operational dealerships with the aim of exceeding 50 points of sale in the first quarter of 2025, comprehensively covering the state territory.

The objective of the worker representatives is to ensure that production, over the years, becomes complete in Barcelona, ​​that is, that the sheet metal of the vehicles is also modeled in Catalonia. The purpose will depend on sales volumes and the will of the Chinese company Chery, the other partner in the equation. When signing the agreement last April, EV Motors and Chery set the goal of making 150,000 cars a year in 2029 in Barcelona, ​​although the factory could exceed this figure and reach a maximum of 200,000.

The arrival of the Chinese represented a bubble of oxygen for former Nissan workers, who had not manufactured a single vehicle at the Barcelona plant since the end of 2021, when the last car left their assembly lines. Last September there was a step back, since the new tariffs for the import of Chinese vehicles and the difficulties in sealing the new rental contract between Ebro, Chery and Goodman caused the initial deadlines to not be met again. The start of production of the Omoda 5, the vehicle that Chery will manufacture in the Barcelona Free Trade Zone, was delayed by one year, until October 2025.

This starting over is what allows Ebro workers to have hope, who see it as “a positive situation to enter a new market with an acceptable volume of vehicles and an attractive price.” Depending on the acceptance of new models and salesthat arise, the reincorporation of the staff that was part of Nissan and that is not yet employed in Ebro will be finalized.