Stellantis threatens to close its two UK assembly plants
- The Stellantis group announced last year that it would produce battery electric vehicles at the Ellesmere Port site (United Kingdom) which was to cease production of the Opel Astra, transferred to Russelsheim in Germany, at the same time than the one produced in Gliwice in Poland.
- Production of the Opel Astra stopped in April 2022 at the Ellesmere Port site, but production of BEVs at this plant has not yet started. In fact, the Citroën Berlingo, Opel Combo, Peugeot Partner, Toyota Proace City and Fiat Doblo with electric engines (these are all light utility vehicles based on the same body with a few aesthetic details allowing each brand to be identified) do not have still started at the Ellesmere Port site. In 2023, these vehicles will therefore still be produced as before at the Spanish plant of Vigo.
- Stellantis Group said this month that new Brexit trade rules on the origin of parts to be applied in 2024 no longer allow Stellantis to produce battery electric vehicles at the Ellesmere Port plant. This new trading rule provides that 45% of the value of a battery electric vehicle must come from Great Britain, in order to avoid additional customs duties.
- As a result, the Stellantis group denounces the unprofitability of this production: "If the cost of producing electric vehicles in the United Kingdom becomes uncompetitive, operations will be closed". It is therefore open to wonder about the future of the Ellesmere Port plant, and by extension of Luton which produces the Opel Vivaro whose production could be easily transferred to the French site of Valenciennes.