Stellantis plans to close UK plant in Luton by the middle of the year
The plant, located northwest of the British capital (right next to London Luton Airport, although London is an hour’s drive away), was to become the second British Stellantis factory to produce electric vehicles, as announced in February 2022. However, in November, the Group had already threatened to close Luton completely – due to the British ZEV mandate, which stipulates fixed electric quotas for manufacturers. For 2024, it was 22% of British car sales and 10% of vans. Otherwise, the government will impose penalties – the percentages will rise further for 2025.
Stellantis’ announcement to cut 1,100 jobs in Luton was considered one of the reasons why the British government was prepared to relax the ZEV mandate for manufacturers with local production – the corresponding talks are reportedly still ongoing until 18 February. However, Stellantis did not even wait for the official result, but announced the end of production in Luton to Autocar and the BBC.
“Production will cease in Luton in Q2 2025, with a period of transforming and transferring machinery and process knowledge to Ellesmere Port,” the company told Autocar. “Production of the group’s medium all-electric LCV range (eK0) in Ellesmere Port will commence in Q4 2026.” The BBC writes that the plant will shut down in April, but Stellantis only goes as far as mentioning the second quarter.
It was precisely this relocation to Ellesmere Port near Liverpool that was promised when the threat was made in the autumn. “Several hundred” jobs will be relocated from Luton to Ellesmere Port for electric van production, but not all 1,100 of them. Stellantis will offer retraining or other jobs to affected employees who do not want to or cannot move.
In Luton, Stellantis produced vans from the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro, Peugeot Expert, Fiat Scudo and Citroën Dispatch (Jumpy in other markets) series with combustion engines. The electric versions, previously imported from the French plant in Hordain, were also to be built in Luton. As there are currently fixed ZEV targets in the UK, but no corresponding support measures, scepticism has grown at Stellantis as to whether the quantities will still be sufficient for the company’s own van production in Luton to pay off.
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