Merseyside’s car industry suffers another day of turmoil

May 29 2009 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

Vauxhall factory in Ellesmere Port _460

MERSEYSIDE’S beleagured car industry suffered another day of turmoil as it emerged a leading component firm will axe one of its three shifts.

Union leaders told the Daily Post of Halewood gearbox maker Getrag Ford’s decision yesterday, hours before European ministers were due to hold emergency talks on the future of GM Europe.

But there was a glimmer of hope for the region’s motor industry as an expert said he was confident Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant will survive the turmoil engulfing its parent company General Motors (GM).

GM Europe is being sold off as its US owner battles to avoid bankruptcy.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson says he has already secured “categorical” assurances from GM Europe’s two bidders that they were committed to continued Vauxhall production in the UK if successful.

Broker Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at BGC Partners in London, said yesterday he thought Ellesmere Port would survive in the medium term, whoever bought GM Europe.

The plant, which employs 2,200 people, will start building the new Astra in September. Mr Wheeldon said the investment GM Europe had put in ahead of that launch made it likely that production would continue there for years.

But he said the future was less bright for the 1,500 staff at its van manufacturing business in Luton.

He said: “I am perhaps less worried than some that, because Germany is taking the lead in this protracted problem, the Ellesmere Port subsidiary of Vauxhall may be under more pressure than any one of the German or Belgian plants, or that because it appears out on a limb in terms of logistics, it is more likely to suffer the chop.