Stellantis announces plans to close Vauxhall van-making plant at Luton

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Stellantis says a plan to consolidate its factories in the UK will include the closure of its factory in Luton. Some 1,100 jobs are potentially lost.

The Luton plant currently builds Vauxhall petrol and diesel vans and was due to start manufacturing battery-electric light commercial vehicles (LCV) for Vauxhall, Citroën, Peugeot and Fiat electric vans next year. 

Now, however, Stellantis says it is planning to invest in its other UK-based factory Ellesmere Port to where they aim to transfer some of the current operations of the Luton factory.

Stellantis said in a statement that they are on a mission to create “an all-electric, sustainable vehicle hub at its Ellesmere Port site in Cheshire through a £50 million investment”.

The company announced that they started talks with the unions and employees about relocating “hundreds of jobs” to the Ellesmere Port site and “dedicated job support” for those who stay.

Union Unite responded to the announcement, saying, “The proposal that has been tabled today has been a complete slap in face for our members in Luton, where Vauxhall vehicles have been manufactured for 120 years”, adding that the decision “is not acceptable”.

Stellantis, which also owns brands including Citroen, Peugeot and Fiat, is facing the same problems as other major European car makers and struggling to sell cars as EV sales remain slow.

The company in 2021 invested £100m (€120m) in Ellesmere Port to transform the facility to battery-electric LCV production, making it the first battery-electric vehicle-dedicated plant globally for Stellantis.

“We stand ready to support our members in doing whatever we can to ensure that historical vehicle manufacturing is maintained in Luton and we call on the government to do the same”, added the unions in their statement.