Nissan CEO says focusing on making batteries more competitive

Makoto Uchida said that shareholding changes in the Renault-Nissan alliance are not something being discussed today.

 Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida expects the company's electric vehicles must be competitive, which will be the key component in the future. He said that making battery prices more competitive is being discussed in-depth in the alliance, reported Reuters on Monday quoting French financial daily Les Echos.

Uchida also said that shareholding changes in the Renault-Nissan alliance are not something being discussed today, "we have other priorities".

He further said that the future of the UK's Sunderland plant is uncertain, will depend on Brexit negotiations over tariffs. Nissan is looking alongside Renault at ways of reducing production costs for Micra model made in Renault France factory.

He also said that closing the Barcelona factory was a difficult decision, the company is discussing the matter with workers.

Nissan Motor plans to slash production capacity and model range by about a fifth to help cut costs by 300 billion yen ($2.79 billion), following a slide in sales, the automaker had said previously.