Uh oh, it looks like Stellantis will shut down Vauxhall’s Luton factory

Stellantis wants to make its Ellesmere Port factory the central UK production hub for its light commercial vehicle business, pledging an additional £50m of investment. This is good news, because it safeguards that factory.

Only one problem: Vauxhall’s Luton plant might have to go as a result, bringing an end to Vauxhall’s presence in the town that stretches back to 1905.

“Whilst strengthening Ellesmere Port as its sustainable LCV hub in the UK with the transfer of Luton operations,” it said in a statement, “Stellantis remains committed to acting responsibly toward its employees in Luton and, if the company proposal is approved, will offer relocation support to facilitate employees wishing to transfer to the Ellesmere Port site with an attractive package, where hundreds of permanent jobs will be created.”

The remaining workforce will be offered opportunities for retraining, while Stellantis will work alongside local employers and the council to help find affected workers new jobs within Luton itself.

It comes after Stellantis appeared to have safeguarded the Luton plant’s future when in February this year, it confirmed it would begin making electric vans from 2025 onwards.

But that was thrown into doubt when last month, Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares said a decision on the future of its two plants in the UK would be made imminently. The closure is apparently a result of worsening demand and government quotas for building electric cars – the ZEV mandate.

That mandate requires 28 per cent of a manufacturer’s output to be electric only by next year, which rises again to 80 per cent in 2030. Many are now calling for a slackening of the rules.

The proposed £50m investment into Ellesmere Port secures its future of course, and follows a £100m investment back in 2021 to make it Stellantis’s first EV-dedicated plant worldwide.

“The proposal, made within the context of the UK’s ZEV Mandate, will potentially contribute to greater production efficiency, including additional production of the medium-sized K0 battery electric LCVs, and support the Company’s ambition to become the No. 1 LCV manufacturer globally,” Stellantis said.