Groupe PSA is investing in Luton facility in the UK to manufacture a new Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro by 2019.
The company said the success of its light commercial vehicle strategy needs further manufacturing capacity and the investment in Luton is driven via a performance plan negotiated between the Unite Trade Union and the Luton plant.
The increase in manufacturing capacity in the compact vans segment will supply PSA's customers from the Luton facility by 2019 apart from the existing Hordain plant in France.
PSA did not mention the amount of money that it will invest at the plant, but UK trade union Unite mentioned that the company will be investing £170m, while adding 450 new jobs.
Opel/Vauxhall CEO Michael Lohscheller said: “This excellent news for Luton is also a clear demonstration that our PACE! Plan is being executed across all European countries. It is also a clear recognition of the skilled people who have customer satisfaction at the core of their priorities.
“As we have often stated, we have our future in our own hands and we need to unleash the full potential of the employees.”
Last year, the plant manufactured 60,000 Opel/Vauxhall Vivaros. The investment intends to increase the facility's production capacity to 100,000 vehicles per year based on Groupe PSA’s EMP2 platform.
The company's EMP2 platform is a new platform for compact and mid-sized cars with with front wheel drive or four wheel drive and transverse engine. It replaces the PF2 and PF3 platforms in one combined modular platform. The company invested €630m in the development of the platform.
With the investment at the plant, PSA expects to optimise its manufacturing processes at the Luton plant to ensure that the manufacture takes place with high standards to meet it customers’ expectations.
