PSA:
- “Success” of Vauxhall/Opel Vivaro, Peugeot Expert and Citroën Dispatch requires three shifts to commence at Luton
- “The commercial situation of Vauxhall and Opel Astra” requires the restarting of Ellesmere Port operations after 1 September
- Temporary staffing in Luton, “shared with the social partners”, an opportunity to “secure” employment of Ellesmere Port employees “based on volunteers”
Having restarted van production at Luton last month, PSA’s Vauxhall now wants Ellesmere Plant workers, who normally assemble the Astra line, to transfer temporarily to the Luton van line to help it meet strong demand.
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Reflecting the group’s COVID-19 priority to protect the health of employees and ensure company sustainability, PSA said, manufacturing at its Luton van plant restarted on 18 May “after the deployment of a protocol of reinforced health measures”.
“The success of the Vauxhall/Opel Vivaro, Peugeot Expert and Citroen Dispatch produced there now requires a third shift to increase output at the site,” the automaker said in a statement.
Van makers in UK and Europe faced increased demand for their products during the pandemic as locked down consumers turned to online ordering and home delivery, much of which is done ‘last mile’ using vans the size of the PSA brands’ models or, in the case of supermarkets and food delivery companies, cab-chassis fitted with customised, part- or full refrigerated bodies.
However, lockdown restrictions saw production and sales plunge. The UK new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market fell 74.1% year on year to 7,541 units in May as the nationwide coronavirus lockdown continued to impact registrations, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Mimicking trends seen in the previous month of lockdown, smaller commercial vehicles saw larger drops in demand, with just 741 pickups and 26 4x4s registered in May, down 80.3% and 83.8% respectively. Vans weighing 2.0 tonnes or less saw a 84.0% decline and registrations of mid-sized vans weighing more than 2.0-2.5 tonnes fell 78.7%. Registrations of larger vans weighing 2.5-3.5 tonnes saw a decline of -70.4%, with 5,412 units delivered.
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By GlobalDataOnly 15 commercial vehicles were manufactured in the UK in April, down 99.3% year on year due to the coronavirus shutdown. The SMMT said the 15 CVs were all destined for the UK market with zero exports in the month.
Although vehicle production was halted in April 2020 as key global markets closed, many manufacturers continued to make spare parts and offer repair and maintenance services to help keep essential vehicles on the road and supply chains moving throughout the crisis.
PSA said Vauxhall Motors representatives met this week with trade union officials on the Vauxhall National Joint Negotiating Committee this week to set out plans to redeploy workers from the Astra assembly plant at Ellesmere Port to Luton “on a voluntary basis for a temporary period”.
The automaker said the proposal would “protect employment and support the ability to respond to significant demand for LCV production with highly trained and skilled workers for the Ellesmere Port site, while demand for Astra is building sufficiently”.
