A CAR maker is selling a battery division known for powering North-East vehicles – but says hundreds of jobs remain secure in the region.

Nissan has reached an agreement to offload electric battery operations and production facilities to private investment fund GSR Capital.

The sale covers manufacturing operations at Nissan’s near 7,000- job Sunderland factory, where around 300 workers oversee operations on rechargeable batteries used to power the Wearside-made all-electric Leaf hatchback.

Bosses say the deal, reported to be worth around $1bn, will have no impact on their roles, with GSR promising to expand UK-based production.

The agreement also covers Nissan’s battery subsidiary, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) and an operation in the US, and will include part of Nissan’s Japanese battery development and production engineering operations.

Hiroto Saikawa, Nissan president and chief executive, said: “This is a win-win for AESC and Nissan.

“It enables AESC to utilise GSR’s wide networks and proactive investment to expand its customer base and further increase its competitiveness.

“In turn, this will further enhance Nissan’s electric vehicle competitiveness.

“AESC will remain a very important partner for Nissan as we deepen our focus on designing and producing market-leading electric vehicles.”

Sonny Wu, GSR chairman, added: “We plan to further invest in research and development, expand existing production capacity in the US, UK and Japan, and establish new facilities in China and Europe to better serve customers.”

Work on the Leaf at Sunderland is complemented by production of the flagship Qashqai model and the Juke hatchback.

The company has also extended its plant to accommodate manufacture of the luxury Infiniti Q30 and QX30 models, which represent the first time vehicles have been exported from Wearside to the US and China.

The business previously revealed the Wearside base will make upgraded Qashqai and XTrail marques after Government talks assuaged Brexit fears over potential export tariffs.

It will be the first time the 4x4 XTrail, tagged by industry experts as the Qashqai’s larger sibling, has been built for European markets outside Japan.

Critics accused ministers of providing Nissan with a sweetheart deal to bring the work to the UK, which the business has always denied, and bosses have since warned they will review the Sunderland plant once the UK’s future relationship with the EU is settled.