Change of plans at the former Nissan plant in the Zona Franca. The factory, now owned by Ebro and the Chinese brand Chery, will start its activity in November, but it will finally do so with the production of models from the Catalan automotive manufacturer, and not from the Chinese firm. Thus, the first cars to come off the reactivated plant will be the Ebro S700 and S800 models, instead of Chery's electric Omoda 5, which postpones its manufacturing in Barcelona to 2025.
The manufacturing of these Ebro models at the plant will imply the full occupation of the factory's assembly lines and the reincorporation of a first hundred workers. Ebro's forecast, which is awaiting the "imminent definitive homologation" of these two models, is to start production on November 18 with the S700, to debut the S800 ten days later. Ebro plans to manufacture about 15,000 units annually of the brand's models, which has 30 points of sale in an exclusive dealership network for the firm.
With the incorporation of new Ebro models and Chery's electric Omoda 5, the manufacturers expect the plant to incorporate more workers in the spring of 2025, and then in the summer, reaching 300. The workers who will be joining the plant are part of the 1,300 laid off from the former Nissan who opted for reindustrialization.
The investment in the order of the plans of both brands has been motivated by the "optimistic forecasts" of sales of Ebro models, and especially by the regulatory changes of the European Commission regarding tariffs for the import of Chinese electric vehicles. These changes affect Chery's Omoda 5, which has begun the process to homologate it as a European manufacturer, something that is expected to be completed within a year.
Chery and Ebro formalized their alliance in April to reindustrialize the former Nissan plant in Barcelona, after months of intense negotiations and multiple trips to China by the authorities and the Catalan company. Now known as Ebro Factory, the plant will become the first in Europe to manufacture cars of a Chinese brand. It will do so almost three years after the closure of the former Nissan, which manufactured its last vehicle in December 2021, on a date agreed between unions and the Japanese company after 95 days of strikes and protests by workers.