Swedish manufacturer Inzile wants to reindustrialise Nissan's plant in Barcelona's Free Zone

The Swedish manufacturer of electric trucks and vans Inzile is a new contender to occupy the facilities that Nissan will vacate in Barcelona's Free Zone when it closes its Catalan plants next December. Inzile sees the Zona Franca as a good option to enter the southern European markets.

According to this Tuesday's La Vanguardia, the Swedish firm has already begun negotiations for the production of its Pro4 model in Barcelona. The brand, in a statement published in Sweden on February 16, explains that the Barcelona plant has "a large capacity to manufacture cars with a highly qualified workforce". "We see this as an efficient way to get started relatively quickly in the production and delivery of our vehicles to southern Europe, where demand is high," says Ragnar Åhgren, CEO of Inzile, in the statement.

He also stresses that the plant has been manufacturing cars, trucks, vans and four-by-fours "and therefore there is also an important network of well-established subcontractors". The brand stresses that Spain is the second largest car manufacturer in Europe and believes that it could manufacture 5,000 vehicles per year in 2022.

Inzile assures that it has presented its expansion project to state and local authorities to participate in the Decarbonisation Center of the Free Zone, and indicates that "it is a strategic and innovative open project for the industrial transformation of the area" focused on electric vehicles and other industrial, logistic and technological companies with an innovative and sustainable profile to take advantage of the great experience that exists in the area and create new jobs.

In addition, the brand stresses that producing in the Free Zone would facilitate "finding the right distribution channels for sales of the volume produced," according to the statement by sales and marketing director of Inzile, Klas Åhgren.

The product that the Swedish company would like to manufacture in the Free Zone is the Inzile Pro4, an electric light truck that has been developed for smart fossil-free cities. The company explains that this type of electric commercial vehicles are "a niche segment in the automotive industry that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years" and that their potential customers include transport companies as well as town councils and other administrations, as well as e-commerce operators who want to reduce emissions.