July 16, 2021
Abby Nuttall
Electric and Hybrid News
In the last couple of years, we’ve seen many companies moving their manufacturing base out of the UK.
There are a number of reasons behind companies moving abroad move but the latest big push has been the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and the impact this has had on the time, cost and difficulty of importing the necessary parts to build the vehicle as well as exporting the finished product.
However, this last month automotive giant Stellantis have announced plans to continue production at their plant in Ellesmere Port, in Cheshire and it will become a production site for some of their brands’ commercial electric vehicles (EVs) and passenger cars.
Stellantis owns a number of brands including Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat and Vauxhall to name a few of their UK best sellers. They have advised that the site is expected to produce electric vans and cars for Vauxhall, Opel, Peugeot and Citroen.
The specific vehicles that we can expect to see being produced in the plant include the Opel Combo-e Cargo electric panel van, Opel’s Movano-e large van, the Opel Combo-e Cargo and Combo-e Life which is a passenger vehicle, the Vauxhall Combo-e Cargo, Peugeot e-Partner, e-Rifter and the Citroen e-Berlingo for both commercial and passenger vehicles.
These models are scheduled to start being built at the plant by the end of next year, after a £100 million investment in Ellesmere Port according to Vauxhall so that the plant supports Stellantis’ future plans for the plant.
The investment will adapt the body shop, modernise the final assembly procedure and set up on-site assembly stations for the battery packs that EVs require.
Additionally, there are plans for the site to be CO2 neutral by the middle of the decade through methods that include a wind and solar farm to produce all the electricity it needs. Work is also expected to begin shortly on the farm.
Until then the models will continue to be built at the Vigo plant in Spain where they are currently being produced.