There is little left to decide which industrial project is approved in the Barcelona Free Zone to replace Nissan. Of the four proposals in the running, Punch’s is the only one that offers a solution for the three Nissan factories in Barcelona.
Last year the closure of the Nissan factory in the Barcelona Free Zone was announced for years below its production capacity. In addition, the workers of Montcada i Reixac and Sant Andreu de la Barca would lose their jobs after the departure of the Japanese. Be part of a global plan reversal due to Nissan’s excess production capacity.
Much work has been done at the state and regional level to minimize the consequences of the disaster, since Nissan had a 40-year presence as a manufacturer in the area and many indirect jobs also depend on your activity. There are several industrialization projects in the process of analysis, and one of the most interesting is Punch Powertrain.
This Belgian company has seven facilities, five divisions (Powerglide, Torino, Hydrocells, Precision and Flybrid), a turnover of more than 500 million euros per year, a workforce of 1,750 employees and more than 30 business clients. Among them we have STELLANTIS, BMW, TATA, Mahindra, or General Motors, among others.
Aerial view of the Zona Franca – Photo: Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB)
Currently in their catalog they have different solutions for the automotive industry, such as gearboxes for conventional engines, electric motors, control units, “hot hydrogen” injection systems, shock absorbers, energy recovery systems (KERS), etc.
Punch has already taken over two factories that were condemned to close, one in Strasbourg and one in Turin. The three in Barcelona would be the following. The Belgian group has a long-term strategy that is based on three pillars:
- Development and production of kinematic chains for private, industrial and marine automotive
- It is committed to hydrogen as a complementary solution to battery-electric ones, both in internal combustion engines (ICE) and fuel cells (FCEV)
- software and hardware needed to electrify hybrids and electric
Meanwhile, we must start from a scenario in which internal combustion is relevant, including diesel engines, and there are emission standards that must be met in key international markets, which are China, Europe and North America. From there it will go to total electrification.
Nissan Navara modified by Punch with H2-ICE technology
Today a Nissan Navara prototype was presented in Barcelona whose diesel engine has been adapted to run on “hot” hydrogen, that is, injected into the cylinders instead of being converted into electricity – a fuel cell. This technical solution is being explored by Mazda and Toyota, and BMW scrapped it in its day.
The Punch project aims to take advantage of the existing facilities as much as possibleEven the vehicles that Nissan still produces -Navara and e-NV200- once it gets the license from the Japanese manufacturer. In a first phase, they will give viability to the existing Navara diesel engines with Euro 7 on the horizon, then they will be hydrogen.
In addition, the manufacture of the e-NV200, which is 100% electric, will continue, and an electric scooter, Lynx, will also arrive as a complementary micromobility solution. Production volumes will be very modest in the first phase, and that considering that they have been -in his own words- “Realistic”.
Analyzing the data between the lines, in 2022 there will be hardly any production, so much of the staff will be in dry dock. In 10 years, and that being “realistic”, it will not even reach half the capacity of the plant, 200,000 units a year in the Nissan era. Since 2018, no more than 70,000 units have been produced a year there, all due to several factors.
The 650 million euros of investment will be injected throughout 2022-2027, and include private and public funds, it doesn’t all come from Punch. The authorities in Spain will put in a grant of 50 million and a loan of 100 million, Punch has committed 95 million, and most of the rest will come from cash flow (380 million, more than half).
In the Free Trade Zone of Barcelona you will not have to put a lot of money, all minor changes or adaptations, except installations for water-based paints, 80 million euros. What’s more, Punch will be integrated into the Barcelona hydrogen business cluster, which in the future will use European gas pipelines to move hydrogen across the continent.
Curiously, Punch bases its project for Barcelona on continuing to manufacture what Nissan is not interested in, and transition to zero-emission vehicles, whether electric or hydrogen-based
In short, no matter how good it all sounds, neither will as many vehicles be manufactured as in the past (and taking almost 10 years from the 2018 scenario), nor will all the employment of Nissan be maintained (an equal part was going to be lost in the transition to electric vehicles). Will it be the winning project, finally?