General Motors said on Monday it would invest £80 million pounds ($US129 million) in its Vauxhall Motors plant at Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool in Britain, to enable production of the next generation Astra model line there, Reuters reported.

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“We’ve just announced that we will invest £80 million pounds into the new Astra, which is coming next year,” chief executive Rick Wagoner told a media conference, according to the Reuters report.

The Astra is also manufactured in Germany and motoring magazines have recently begun to carry ‘spy’ shots of disguised prototypes on test. The new line is expected to make a public debut as a 2004 model at the Frankfurt motor show in September.

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