► Stellantis plans to shut long-running Luton factory
► Group wants to ‘consolidate’ van production by moving to one site
► Up to 1,100 jobs at risk
Stellantis has announced its intention to close its plant in Luton as it looks to ‘consolidate’ commercial vehicle operations to one site in the UK.
The global automotive group says it has opened a ‘consultation with its employees and Trade Union partners’ as it looks to shut the former Vauxhall factory in Luton and move all commercial vehicle production to its only other UK plant in Ellesmere Port, Merseyside.
Stellantis has threatened to cut UK production for some time in light of Brexit trading agreements and the government’s ZEV mandate, which means car and van makers have to sell a certain percentage of EVs from 2024, but this is the first confirmation of its plans to cut UK production, and threatens 1100 jobs at the Bedfordshire plant.
The ZEV Mandate requires manufacturers to have a 22 per cent share of electric cars and 10 per cent share of new electric vans sold in 2024, otherwise they face steep fines. It has come under continued fire from the UK’s automotive industry, with rumours today (November 26) circulating that the government could relax the mandate as manufacturers struggle to sell the required percentage of EVs amid buyer hesitancy.
Luton has been the home of Vauxhall and then parent company Stellantis’ commercial vehicle production, with the factory producing the Vauxhall Vivaro and related Citroen Dispatch, Fiat Scudo and Peugeot Expert mid-size vans.
It’s a backtrack on Stellantis’ earlier announcement in February 2024, when the firm said it would begin making electric mid-size vans in spring 2025 alongside existing diesel vans. It now appears the plant could close by this date instead.
Stellantis says it has made the decision ‘within the context of the UK’s ZEV Mandate’ and that it looks to make its plant in Ellesmere Port an ‘all-electric, sustainable vehicle hub’. The Merseyside plant previously produced the Vauxhall Astra but is now the UK’s only dedicated volume EV plant after moving to manufacture Stellantis’ compact electric vans – including the Vauxhall Combo Electric and Peugeot e-Partner.
The group proposes a further £50m investment into Ellesmere Port and says it is ‘committed to acting responsibly towards its employees in Luton’. It also says it will create ‘hundreds of permanent jobs’ at Ellesmere through a relocation package.
The news comes just days after Ford announced it was cutting 800 jobs in the UK in the next three years, with weak demand for electric vehicles being cited as the reason.