Vauxhall considers UK plant closures: Decision to be made ‘in weeks’

The owner of Vauxhall will decide whether to close its UK plants within ‘the next few weeks’.

Stellantis, Europe’s second-largest car maker, has been weighing up its options for months amid a row with the Government over quotas for electric vehicles (EVs).

In an update yesterday, boss Carlos Tavares urged ministers to relax the rules to secure the future of its plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton.

‘We are now reaching a point where we have to make a decision, and that will happen in the next few weeks,’ he told Bloomberg TV yesterday.

Factory threat: Stellantis, which was formed with the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot and Citroen owner PSA, makes electric cars and vans at its Ellesmere Port plant (pictured)

The bleak warning comes as demand for electric cars across Europe slumps.

Drivers are reluctant to buy EVs because of the high prices and the lack of charging infrastructure.

Tavares urged the Government to ‘help to stimulate the demand’ if they want firms such as Stellantis to sell a higher proportion of electric cars. He said the government threshold for green sales was about double ‘natural’ levels of demand.

The bleak warning came as Sir Keir Starmer welcomed big business to an investment summit in London.

Stellantis, which was formed with the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot and Citroen owner PSA, makes electric cars and vans at its Ellesmere Port plant and larger petrol and diesel vans in Luton.

It had been planning to start making EVs in Luton later this year.

Government targets dictate that 22 per cent of manufacturers’ car sales must by zero-emission this year. This is set to rise to 80 per cent in 2030.

For vans, 70 per cent of new sales must be electric by the end of the decade. Firms can be fined up to £15,000 per vehicle if they miss these targets.

There are signs that consumers are turning their backs on green models amid increased competition from Chinese car manufacturers.

And British drivers are being put off battery-powered cars by their high price tags. Figures published earlier this month showed just 92,627 battery-only powered cars were registered in the European Union last month – down 44 per cent on August last year.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), which published the figures, declared the EV market was ‘now on a continual downward trajectory’.

The ACEA urged European governments to delay draconian green goals, claiming that refusing to extend a 2035 deadline for ending production of petrol and diesel cars ‘raises the daunting prospect of multi-billion euro fines or unnecessary production cuts and job losses’.