PSA on Friday stated it would cut about 400 jobs at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port located in Britain by the end of the year to enhance the production center’s competitiveness.
PSA obtained the Opel and Vauxhall brands from General Motors in August, assisting the automaker leapfrog rival Renault SA to become Europe’s second biggest automaker by sales.
“Dealing with difficult European market conditions and a declining automobile market, Vauxhall needs to adjust production volumes at its Ellesmere Port production center to the present level of demand and to enhance its performance, in order to protect its future,” a PSA representative told Reuters.
The representative stated the 400 job cuts – which total up to about a quarter of the facility’s personnel – would be carried out by means of a voluntary redundancy plan.
This and a relocation to a single-shift operation will be talked about with employees representatives more than a 45-day period.
PSA is committed to the Opel Astra plant at Ellesmere Port, the representative added, while mentioning present production expenses there were “considerably greater” than those of the standard plants of the PSA Group in France.
PSA’s Chief Executive Carlos Tavares had stated last month that it was difficult to decide upon the group’s method for Vauxhall given absence of clearness over Britain’s strategies to leave the European Union.
The spokesperson on Friday stated PSA would remain in a position to think about future investments once it has presence on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU and when the plant’s competitiveness has been resolved.
