Vauxhall Ellesmere Port Plant ’Safe’ Until At Least 2021 In PSA Group Buyout
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One of two Vauxhall U.K. plants, Ellesmere Port, appears to be safe from closure if GM sells its European unit Opel-Vauxhall to French automaker PSA Group.
The conclusion is somewhat analogous to playing the equivalent of automotive industry chess: the current Astra is scheduled to remain on the market until 2021 calendar year. As such, moving production of the highly-successful vehicle from Ellesmere Port in Merseyside to a PSA factory would not be practical for PSA in the short- to medium-term. Also not an option is to move Astra production to Opel’s Gliwice plant in Poland, which shares production of the Astra five-door with Ellesmere Port, since doing so would require a costly expansion of the former.
However, after the current-generation Astra has run its course, PSA will likely look to realize cost-savings by building its replacement on the same platform as the Peugeot 308 hatchback. It will be at this point that Astra production can theoretically be moved to another European facility from Ellesmere Port.
The future of the two GM-Vauxhall factories in the U.K. has become uncertain as it was revealed last week that the PSA Group, the parent firm of Peugeot, Citroen and DS, was in advanced stages of discussions to purchase GM’s European operations comprised of Opel and Vauxhall. GM operates two factories in the U.K.:
- Ellesmere Port, which is one of two plants that builds the Astra five-door hatchback (the other plant being Gliwice, Poland), and the only plant that builds the Astra Sport Tourer (wagon), as well as
- Luton, which builds the Opel Vivaro and Vauxhall Vivaro vans
In related news, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May recently met with PSA Group chief executive Carlos Tavares to discuss the Paris-based automaker’s bid to acquire Opel-Vauxhall. In discussing Vauxhall’s U.K. plants, May and Tavares share a desire to “protect and promote” the jobs associated with the facilities, according to a spokesperson for the U.K. government.
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Makes sense
Someone recently posted on this site on the possibility of Vauxhall selling the Cruze alongside the Astra. If so would it be similar to Holden do & simply the saloon becoming a Astra or would it be a model in it’s own right such as Belmont or similar. Or would it sell as a more affordable alternative to the more expensive Astra, my bet is the Astra saloon. If the Cruze is UK bound for Vauxhall when is it rumoured to be launched here.
Like David1256 said, I haven’t heard of anything regarding the Cruze going on sale in Europe.
If there is a possibility of an Astra saloon being sold in Europe, then I would expect it to be the new Buick Verano:
http://gmauthority.com/blog/gm/buick/verano/2016-verano/
Isn’t the Buick Verano based on the last generation Astra & not the new one, still prefer Cruze to Verano because the Verano don’t look as nice, Cruze will propally appeal to a younger audience suiting it’s target market & brand better IMO.
Vauxhall is just a brand, not an independent company which can take decisions about which cars it sells.
As far as I know Jon there are no plans for Vauxhall to sell the Cruze or Opel for that matter.
Thanks for clearing that up David much appreciated. Possibly wires crossed in translation, shame though the Cruze is a decent motor & would solve the one problem the Belmont had in that it was a Astra with a boot & didn’t look any different, still sold reasonably well though.
Ellsmere Port is the only factory building the Astra “Sport Tourer” (wagon).
They also build a part of the five-door hatchbacks. All the other Astra variants (which kind of includes the Cascada) are being assembled in Gliwice, Poland.
Cascada is built in Poland & nowhere else, regardless of Vauxhall, Opel, Holden or Buick models.
Cascada should of just been Astra Convertable like it always was, no need for change in name.
The Cascada’s chassis is a little bit different from the Astra one’s.
Cascada’s chassis maybe different yet it shares many parts with Astra & Insignia. The reasoning behind me saying it should be called Astra is it avoids any confusion (if there is any) as to what it is, Astra Convertable (like it was always called) just makes sense.