Nissan warned a no-deal Brexit could kill its UK business. It employs 7,000 people at Britain's biggest car plant.

Nissan Motor COO Ashwani Gupta speaks during a news conference at Nissan Motor headquarters in Yokohama

Reuters

• Nissan's chief operating officer said Wednesday that a no-deal Brexit could threaten the company's future in the UK.
• Increased tariffs from a no-deal Brexit would raise Nissan's costs, its chief operating officer, told Reuters Wednesday.
• "If it happens without any sustainable business case ... obviously our UK business will not be sustainable, that's it," Ashwani Gupta said.
• Nissan employs 7,000 workers at a factory in Sunderland, a city in north-east England. It is the UK's biggest car plant.
• The UK and European Union are now running out of time to agree a trade deal.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nissan Motors warned Wednesday the company's future in the UK could be in doubt without a Brexit deal.

The car giant's warning came as European Union said the UK are running out of time to secure a deal that will govern trade from next year. 

Increased tariffs from a no-deal Brexit would raise costs, threatening the company's UK business, Ashwani Gupta, Nissan's chief operating officer, told Reuters Wednesday.

Nissan also warned new custom checks could delay car parts coming from other countries, slowing production.

Nissan employs 7,000 workers at a factory in Sunderland, a city in north-east England. It is the UK's biggest car plant.

Gupta told the BBC that the EU was the Sunderland factory's biggest customer

"We are the number one carmaker in the UK and we want to continue," he said.

Read more:Time is ticking to secure a Brexit deal. Here are 2 ways JPMorgan's chief market strategist for Europe says investors should prepare their portfolios ahead of the December deadline.

"If it happens without any sustainable business case, obviously it is not a question of Sunderland or not Sunderland, obviously our UK business will not be sustainable, that's it," Gupta told Reuters.

Gupta said that Nissan wasn't looking for compensation from Britain for any costs brought about from a no-deal Brexit, contradicting previous media reports.

"We are absolutely not thinking that and we are not discussing it," he said. "Our commitment remains, and it will continue as far as our business is sustainable."

The UK is due to leave the EU single market and customs union at the end of the year, more than four years after the country voted to leave the bloc.

The UK boss of one of Europe's biggest dairy companies told Business Insider on Tuesday that it would have to increase prices for UK consumers in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

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