Falling markets prompt production cuts at Luton

Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Output is being cut at GM's Luton van plant, which produces Vauxhall's Vivaro, Renault's Trafic and Nissan's Primastar. The factory will be idle during eight days in October as General Motors attempts to balance supply with declining demand, not just in the UK but in several other European markets.

Production will still hit over 90,000 units this year, however, down from last year's record total of 97,000, says a GM spokesman. Nor is there any immediate threat to the factory's future, he stresses, which should be secure until at least 2013.

GM's other UK assembly plant, at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, which produces Astravan alongside the Astra car, could be due for the odd idle day, but not to the same extent as Luton. Output there is being buoyed up by exports to Eastern Europe.

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