23008_Nearshoring Report

Other countries seeking to attract automotive manufacturing investment particularly in EV battery and other vehicle technology including the major vehicle producing nations of France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Sweden alongside CEE countries such as Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. An important consideration in attracting investment in these activities and for their long term success will be access to power. led by QEV and engineering company Btech – was awarded a EUR 107.8 million grant from the Spanish government under its Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) scheme to create a “decarbonization hub” dedicated to e-mobility manufacturing at the old Nissan plant. In March 2023, a deal between the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB) and logistics developer Goodman was announced with Goodman to manage 419,000 sqm of land, part of which will be leased to the D-HUB to produce electric vehicles. Car manufacturer Nissan announced in May 2020 that it would be closing its plants in Catalonia, including its main factory in Barcelona’s Zona Franca, citing a need to “rationalise” their business operations in Europe; final operations for Nissan ceased in December 2021. In April 2022, Spanish electric vehicle manufacturer QEV Technologies announced that it would be moving into the former Nissan plant in Barcelona where it would build electric vans and buses. In November 2022, the D-HUB – a group made up of around a dozen companies ZONA FRANCA, BARCELONA

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