End of the line

Vauxhall's Luton plant shut for good two weeks ago, ending the firm's 120 years in the town. JOHN EVANS celebrates that long, rich history

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On 28 March, Vauxhall made its last vehicle in Luton. Out of respect to the Stellantis-owned UK brand's 120-year association with the Bedfordshire town, it was a Vauxhall Vivaro rather than one of the other related mid-size diesel vans - Citroën Dispatch, Fiat Scudo and Peugeot Expert - that the factory also produced. With the last vehicle out of the door, the plant's 1100 workers clocked off for the final time and work began on dismantling the production line and moving what will be required to Stellantis's Ellesmere Port factory, where it has invested £50 million to make electric versions of the same vans, in addition to the smaller electric vans it already builds under those brands. No diesel vans will be made.

Stellantis announced it would be closing its Luton plant in November last year and confirmed its decision in February. While moving production to Ellesmere Port achieves the company's ambition of concentrating electric van production in one location, it says its decision was also influenced by the impacts on its business of Brexit and the ZEV mandate.

Speaking at an industry event just weeks before the closure of the Luton plant, Stellantis UK's boss, Eurig Druce, said: “We have to make sure that we have continued free trade with Europe because there is very little point manufacturing in the UK for UK supply alone. We're fully supportive of the transition to electric but what we can’t have is a scenario where a piece of government legislation is out of sync with consumer demand.”