LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is set to host a multi-billion-pound electric car battery plant from Tata Motors, the BBC reported on Wednesday without citing sources, saying the Indian company had chosen the UK instead of Spain.
The boss of Jaguar Land Rover-owner Tata is expected to fly to London next week to finalise the deal, the BBC report added.
The British government’s business department declined to comment on the report.
The decision by the Indian bluechip company would give a boost to the British car industry coming days after major automakers including Vauxhall owner Stellantis and Ford warned that looming post-Brexit trade rules risked making it unviable.
Spain is also competing to host the plant, making any decision to choose Britain a major win for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is under growing pressure from carmakers to make the country more attractive.
Britain has fallen behind in the global race to build local electric vehicle (EV) battery capacity, threatening the future of the sector because it requires heavy batteries to be built near car manufacturing plants.
A lack of a home-grown battery sector would also risk tariffs on British cars under post-Brexit rules that are due to come into force from next year.
(Reporting by William James and Alistair Smout, writing by Muvija M, editing by Sarah Young)
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