"This is a great vote of confidence in the UK and fantastic news for the brilliant Nissan workforce in Sunderland and electric vehicle manufacturing in this country," Johnson said on Twitter.

Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta said Brexit-related problems at ports since Jan. 1 were "peanuts" for Nissan, which has had to handle COVID-19 and natural disasters.

(Reporting by William James, writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Michael Holden)