"As we look forward and as we develop our industrial strategy, we will want to be working with companies like Nissan, with sectors of the economy, to ensure we maintain that competitiveness and see the UK being a global leader in free trade," May said.

Last month, Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said he could scrap new investment in Britain unless he was given a guarantee of compensation for costs related to any new tariffs resulting from Brexit.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas and Sarah Young; editing by Stephen Addison)