The crisis in the automobile sector continues in Europe. Stellantis announced on Tuesday that it wanted to close its factory in Luton, north of London in Britain. The production of public services carried out on site would be repatriated to another English site, Ellesmere Port, 300 kilometers away.
Several hundred employees affected
According to the company, more than 1,100 people currently work full-time in Luton. Some could be reassigned to this other location in the north of England, “where hundreds of permanent jobs will be created,” indicates a statement from Stellantis, which has already started a consultation with employees and unions.
As well as relocating some positions, the company is also promising “exclusive, comprehensive employment support, including retraining opportunities, for all affected employees” in “the busy Luton area”.
This reorganization, which involves an investment of 50 million pounds (60 million euros), aims to “strengthen the Ellesmere Port factory.” Stellantis highlights having invested 100 million pounds (120 million euros) there in 2021 to convert it into its first exclusively electric commercial vehicle manufacturing plant.
Small light utility vehicles are manufactured there, such as the Citroën ë-Berlingo, the Opel Combo Electric or the Peugeot E-Partner.
Delays around the electric vehicle
British car manufacturers have been concerned for months about the promise of the Labor Party, elected in July, to bring forward by five years the ban on the sale of new cars that run only on gasoline and diesel, given the demand for electric cars, which they consider insufficient. Stellantis even threatened in June to simply stop its production in the UK due to the lack of sufficient support for electricity from the authorities.
In fact, the previous Conservative Government had last year postponed the ban on the sale of new cars that run on petrol and diesel in the United Kingdom until 2035, compared to the previously set target of 2030, and the Labor Party wants to reverse it.
The executive reiterated last week that he wanted to “reestablish the progressive elimination, between now and 2030, of cars powered solely by internal combustion engines”, after a round table with the sector, also recalling that he plans to invest “2,000 million pounds (2.4 billion euros) to help the British car industry make this transition.”
Source: BFM TV
