Vauxhall Luton to close by June

Stellantis will begin shutting down Vauxhall’s Luton plant in April, with production at the site fully ended by June, the car giant has confirmed to Autocar.

In November 2024, the decision was announced to close the historic commercial vehicle factory, with all of Vauxhall’s UK operations moved to Ellesmere Port. Production of the relocated operations will start at the Merseyside plant in October. 

A statement from Stellantis said: “Production will cease in Luton in Q2 2025, with a period of transforming and transferring machinery and process knowledge to Ellesmere Port.  

“Production of the group’s medium all-electric LCV range (eK0) in Ellesmere Port will commence in Q4 2026.”

A report from the BBC suggests the site will close in April, however Stellantis would not confirm an exact date.

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, which is currently the focus of a new industry-wide consultation, was “hurting significantly our business model”, as 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.

From April, 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 Merseyside site last year began making EVs following a £100m upgrade.

The decision to close Luton put 1100 jobs at risk, with just a few hundred roles 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 offered 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 has 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.