Vauxhall Luton ends vehicle production after 120 years

Vauxhall Luton has built its final vehicle, a Vivaro van, bringing to an end 120 years of production at the plant.

The decision to close the historic commercial vehicle factory was announced by Vauxhall owner Stellantis in November 2024. All of the company’s UK van production will be moved its site in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

Former Stellantis chief Carlos Tavares announced the decision just a few months after he had threatened closures as part of a battle with the UK government over its zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

Tavares said the ZEV mandate was “hurting significantly our business model”, because car makers were being forced to sell more EVs yet no incentives were being offered to buyers and the industry was grappling with a downturn in EV interest.

He said that moving all operations to one base would “consolidate” Stellantis’s UK manufacturing footprint. He added that this decision would “potentially contribute to greater production efficiency” – something the firm said would also allow it to meet increasingly stringent ZEV mandate targets, which rise to 26% this year.

All of Luton’s machinery will be moved to Ellesmere Port, where more than £50 million will then be spent to upgrade it to take on the extra workload.

The decision to close Luton put 1100 jobs at risk and just a few hundred roles were guaranteed to be moved to Ellesmere Port, Stellantis said. A consultation was launched for affected workers, with those unable to make the move being offered retraining or potentially jobs at neighbouring businesses.

Following November’s announcement, union bosses called on Stellantis to reverse its decision, given that it was made just days before Tavares’s shock resignation.

Unite called the closure decision “one final example of Tavares’s failed strategy” and said it “must be halted as the company embarks on the hunt for a new CEO and a new direction”.

In response, Stellantis committed to “the continuity of the ongoing projects that have been already communicated” under the guidance of chairman John Elkann and an interim executive committee.

Unite argued that until Tavares’s successor is appointed (due in the first half of 2025), all previous major decisions should be halted.