Vauxhall Plant Could Close In Two Years'

5:56pm UK, Wednesday May 27, 2009
Union bosses have warned that one of Vauxhall's British car plants will close within two years unless the Government acts.

Vauxhall Motors

Those close to the negotiations fear for Vauxhall's future

Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley told Sky News another factory had no "long term" future unless the Government issued a bailout to the car industry.

The future of Vauxhall remains in doubt as the US car giant General Motors tries to sell off its European arm, which includes Opel and Britain's Vauxhall.

Talks over who will be the preferred bidder for Opel are continuing in Germany.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said the industry may get cash and added that he had been working from London to preserve British jobs.

Vauxhall employs 5,000 people at two plants in Britain.

"[The British Government] will be representing the interests of the workforce of Vauxhall in the UK and if that means having to make some financial underwriting of any new arrangements then of course we would consider doing that," he told the BBC.

But he added: "It may be that the head count, the workforce of General Motors Europe as a whole, will be reduced rather than particular plants being closed."

    Ultimately, Vauxhall may hope Magna's 'Siegfried Line' doesn't crumble.

Attack lines and pincer movements form in the fight for GM Europe

Meanwhile, Unite's Mr Woodley warned that a plant was set to close within two years and another plant had no long term future.

"That cannot be right. It's no good having a bailout for the banks if we are not going to put money into preserving quality British jobs," he said.

"Lord Mandelson should get off the phone and get on a plane to bat for British jobs."

Four companies were in the running for preferred bidder status: Italy's Fiat, Canadian car parts group, Belgium-listed industrial holding RHJ International, and Beijing Automotive Industry Corporation (BAIC).

The majority of GM's European operations are run by Opel, where 25,000 staff are based in Germany.
With Germany in an election year and the Government expected to guarantee billions of pounds of Opel loans, Britain fears Vauxhall jobs could be sacrificed.

But privately, Sky News understands those close to the negotiations in the UK fear for the future of both Vauxhall plants - Luton in the short-term, and Ellesmere Port in the longer term.

The sale of GM's European arm is part of the reorganisation of the car maker, which is battling to avoid bankruptcy.

That battle suffered a blow after bondholders rejected a key part of the restructuring plan.

A large number of investors refused to exchange their debt for company shares.

Pressure to agree on a partner is building ahead of a June 1 restructuring deadline set by the US Government, which could lead to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the Detroit-based car

Woodley is a pointless, useless thingy, and is bad for the UK car industry. Soon that pillock gets retired off, the better!

Unfortunately ... the worldwide car production capacity exceeds the worldwide annual new car market by about 2:1 .... 

There is no point this country trying to be mass producer in the face of the facts. We, and the unions, should face reality and actually try and move on and make things people want/need at a price they can afford, instead of harping back to the "good old days" .. which historicaly were not actualy that good for the workers, but gave the union bosses the feeling of power.

This was proved by Scargill .. who actually did the coal industry far more damage than any government, and I can see this "Unite" union going the same way ...   lots of retoric, even more emotional blackmail, and the real workers lose out.

I hate myself for saying it, the smart thing to do would be to let them close VX down then use taxpayers money that would have otherwise been used to prop up an ongoing lame duck, to retool and build state of the art, cheap, effective, easily upgradeable truly green cars. The potential market is huge. maybe Mr Dyson could be seconded to the project!

Won't happen of course.

varche

I saw a load of Insignia being delivered to my local Vx dealer today.................by a German registered lorry as the Omega was!

Lizzie Zoom wrote on 28. May 2009 at 17:00:



Sounds like a re-branded national company Ms Zoom

Quote:


Because we, the people of Britain, decided that we didn't want to pay extra for quality "made in Britain" goods, and nor did the citizens of other countries.  Everyone suddenly wanted it as cheap as possible, and the market responed by sourcing cheaper manufacturing costs overseas, which at the moment of course is China. 

Lizzie Zoom wrote on 28. May 2009 at 17:40:


.. and a built-in scrappage scheme thanks to iron oxide. I think the wings of my Grandad's brand new 120Y had perforated within 2 years. 

Even BL struggled to plunge that depth of ineptitude.

Kevin