Vauxhall Astra car at the Ellesmere Port plant _300
He said Magna was looking to cut 2,500 jobs from Germany, with the rest coming from elsewhere.
Car analysts believe Vauxhall’s Luton plant, which employs around 1,600, is the most threatened by closure.
Mr Fetherstone added: “We just hope that Magna recognise that we have a productive workforce here at Ellesmere Port that builds world-class cars. We launch the new Astra in September, and we are the first plant with Poland supposed to follow a couple of months later.
“There’s some fine tuning to do, but cars are going down the line every so often.
“By September we hope to be in full production mode.
“We have had a pilot team working on it for two years now.”
He said another positive sign was plans to start production next year of an estate wagon Astra which is popular in Europe.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson said Magna’s bosses had given a commitment to continue Vauxhall production in the UK, but no details as to how long or whether job losses would follow.
