Vauxhall’s parent firm has revealed a new electric vehicle future for its Ellesmere Port plant, removing a years-long threat of closure from the factory.
Stellantis confirmed on Tuesday that a government grant, coupled with a £100m investment of its own, would at least safeguard the 1,000 jobs left at the site.
Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, its statement said, would become Stellantis’s “first manufacturing site dedicated to battery electric LCV (vans) and passenger car models for Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroën” – its other major brands within the group.
There are also plans in place to explore the creation of a new UK parts distribution centre at the Cheshire site.
The announcement follows months of talks between the company and officials on whether the plant, the traditional home of the Astra, was viable on several grounds including Brexit.
But the biggest issue for Stellantis, in the wake of the UK’s trade deal with the bloc, was the government’s vision for an electric car future.
Chief executive Carlos Tavares had previously described the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered cars from 2030 as “brutal” and ministers were warned the plant, which dates back to 1962, may have to shut without state aid for an electric conversion.