(Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co.'s decision to close its Barcelona factories sparked fury among workers who set tires ablaze to protest the imminent end to four decades of vehicle production by the Japanese automaker in Spain's second city.
Nissan took the tough decision to shutter the plants to remove excess production capacity and improve the company's overall competitiveness, Chief Executive Officer Makoto Uchida said in a statement. Thick black smoke shrouded one of the plants as workers protested a decision that unions said would cost at least 23,000 jobs.
“It is a big mistake,” the Comisiones Obreras union said in an emailed statement. Nissan's three plants in Barcelona's Zona Franca industrial district and in the nearby towns of Montcada i Reixac and Sant Andreu de la Barca employ over 3,000 people directly, and generate about 20,000 indirect jobs, according to unions.
The decision to close production in a city where Nissan had made vehicles since 1983 is part of a wider plan unveiled by the automaker and its French partner Renault SA to help them weather a collapse in demand for cars.
Nissan formally announced the closure on Thursday as it announced a turnaround plan aimed at cutting production by 20% to about 5.4 million vehicles a year. Market conditions in recent years had meant that production volumes in Barcelona had fallen below a quarter of capacity, Nissan said.
Read More: Nissan Posts Biggest Loss in 20 Years, Unveils Turnaround Plan
The Spanish government said it regretted Nissan's decision and urged the company to consider alternatives.
“We have proposed the company to start discussions and negotiations to see how we can channel this process,” Economy Minister Nadia Calvino told state broadcaster TVE on Thursday. “The investments necessary to upgrade this plant are lower than the costs of closing it.”
An initial restructuring announced months ago already resulted in 600 redundancies and early retirements in Spain, Comisiones Obreras said. Closing Nissan's factories in Spain will cost over 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), the union said.
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