Vauxhall owner PSA ‘could move Astra production from UK’

The chief executive of Vauxhall-owner PSA says it could move all production from its Ellesmere Port factory if Brexit makes it unprofitable, according to reports.

Chief executive Carlos Tavares has told the Financial Times that the company has alternatives to the plant, with any potential move threatening about 1,000 jobs.

“Frankly I would prefer to put it [the Astra car] in Ellesmere Port but if the conditions are bad and I cannot make it profitable then I have to protect the rest of the company and I will not do it,” he said. “We have an alternative to Ellesmere Port.”

Last month, Groupe PSA confirmed that the site was one of two plants in Europe where it intended to make the next generation Astra but did warn that the decision was conditional on the final terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union.

A factory in Russelsheim, Germany, was the other.

Currently, the Vauxhall and Opel Astra are built in Ellesmere Port and in Gliwice.