Vauxhall owner threatens to close UK car factories
By Paul Homewood
h/t Doug Brodie
This may be the first crisis Starmer faces, as the real world comes up against Miliband’s fantasy world:
The car giant behind Vauxhall has threatened to mothball its UK factories amid a row over net zero targets for electric vehicle (EV) sales.
Stellantis warned on Tuesday that it would be forced to close plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton, where it makes vans, unless the Government relaxed rules forcing manufacturers to sell a certain proportion of EVs.
It has also threatened to reduce the number of petrol and diesel cars it sells in the UK.
The warning dramatically escalates a dispute with the Government over the so-called zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which requires car makers to sell rising proportions of electric cars annually.
From this year, at least 22pc of cars they sell must be electric and the figure rises gradually to 80pc by 2030. In 2035 the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will then be banned.
However, Maria Grazia Davino, UK managing director for Stellantis, said the rules were out of step with consumer demand and risked making sales unprofitable.
Stellantis makes electric cars and vans at its Ellesmere Port plant and vans in Luton, employing more than 1,000 workers across both sites.
Speaking at a car industry conference in London, Ms Davino told journalists the mandate would have a big impact and “damage the UK”.
‘Hostile market’
Speaking at a car industry conference, she told journalists the mandate would have a big impact and “damages the UK”.
Ms Davino added: “We have undertaken big investments in Ellesmere Port and in Luton, with more to come.
“But if this market becomes hostile to us, we will enter an evaluation for producing elsewhere.”
Asked how long Stellantis would wait for a decision from the Government, she said: “Less than a year.”
This was inevitable, and certainly won’t be limited to Vauxhall. As I have repeatedly pointed out, the UK motor industry as a whole cannot afford to pay the hundreds of millions in fines coming their way at the end of the year. The only option open to them is to cut back on production of ICE cars, in order to get back to the 22% target.
Based on current trends, this could mean that factories shut down production for the last three months of the year, or alternatively simply stockpile 3 months of production.
This is not sustainable in the long run, and the likes of Vauxhall would quickly run out of cash to do so. And it would make the problem doubly worse next year – not only would they face even tougher targets next year, but they would start the year with 3 months of ICE cars to sell, impacting output next year.
This is why Ms Davino has stressed the government has a year to sort the problem. They have clearly been hanging on to see what government will do to address the problem after the election. But unless the punitive ZEV mandate is relaxed, expect Stellantis to shut up shop next year, and shift production to Europe instead.
And they won’t be the only ones.
NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
You have to wonder at the stupidity of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which is all in favour of EVs.
Well done Philip appearing in a BBC article about renewable energy. (I assume you’re the Phil in question)
“Dr Phil Bratby, from the Devon branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), said they were very concerned about more onshore wind and solar farms”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv222jw975zo
Yes, that was I. I did a 15 minute Zoom interview with Kirk England last Friday. You know with these BBC interviews that they ask you lots of questions and edit out the best bits. On Spotlight I only spoke for about 15 seconds and it certainly wasn’t may best response.
Quick aside Glen, following your reference to the solar farm around Chertsey Abbey Meads, guess where yesterday’s national highest temperature was recorded!
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/observations/weather-extremes
When you sup with the devil best use a long spoon. And he who controls the editing suite controls what you say. There have been lots of stitch ups of people putting forward views the legacy media don’t like or just managing to cut out all the good points and leave any weaker ones.
Yes, well done Philip.
What happens when white van man can’t find an affordable conveyance to carry on his trade? The daily operating radius of electric vans is limited by load, weight of goods carried, weather and availability of charging stations.
They may work on set postal delivery routes where there is an overnight charging infrastructure at the depot and favourable tax treatment.
Hauling 8′ x 4′ sheets or ladders on top is a different operation, as long as there is enough work and merchant suppliers for tradesman within the operating range of said EV then it could work, anything outside that radius will incur extra costs, customers without a suitable charging infrastructure cannot be served.
Didn’t Toyota UK say something similar last year ??
Fantasy World?
Glastonbury organisers provided chargers for electric cars.
The initial price to top up a virtue vehicle was £80…which dropped to a ‘bargain’ low of £50 after complaints.
And, the chargers were powered by …. you’ve guessed it …. diesel generators!
£50? Bargain. It would be better to turn off the generators and sell the diesel.
To be fair the diesel generators run off “waste vegetable oil”.
Considering how much of this waste chip oil seems to be used for green generation people will need to eat a lot more chips in the future.
I read it somewhere else first but this link will do to show the likelihood of virgin palm oil being used for biofuel. It’s fraud of course but it enables the likes of Virgin to virtue signal. Turning rain forest in to palm plantations to feed the growing used oil market is going on of course but who cares?
https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/80-of-europes-used-cooking-oil-now-imported-raising-concerns-over-fraud-study
“Used” oil is the only thing that celebs, royals and politicians can use to fly around in their private aircraft. Because of that demand, it could easily be more expensive than new vegetable oils. So yes, the perverse incentives are built-in.
I think threatening the government is a losing proposition.
Close now. Avoid the Christmas rush. Government has spelled out their plan; act on it.
Jet2 and several other airline / holiday companies extoll their efforts to achieve “Net Zero” as soon as possible.
Do they not read the MSM? (Never mind truthful sites like Paul’s).
Turkeys for Christmas.
Queers for Palestine
Both spring immediately to mind.
M
whilst I feel sorry for the employees who stand to loose decent jobs, I think that Stellantis should just walk away from UK vehicle manufacturing, making it very clear to all and sundry that the lunatic ZEV mandate is the sole reason.
It is very costly to close businesses. They are threatening to avoid the fines. It’s all a game, they are closing ICE manufacturing by 2030 anyway (80% EV mandate) and just want to reduce their costs in the meantime.
actually, the costly part is keeping a production facility running at significantly lower than design capacity. It is cheaper to abandon the sunk costs and walk away.
They could have an ‘unfortunate’ battery fire and claim on the insurance, then build some warehousing or accommodation for immigrants.
This has been an obvious possibility and repeatedly mentioned by just about everyone on here for years. Poor EV sales will trigger massive fines while ICE production gets wound back. Result, an unviable manufacturing plant and ta-ra.
Our political class have no serious business models in any part of our economy. The City is hamstrung by stamp duty on shares, corp’ tax has been increased (!), no vat cuts for CoL impact reduction, no mining or extraction industries, no North Sea energy, no onshore gas, no energy security, no steel or aluminium industries and IR35 wrecking hundreds of thousands of small businesses. Pathetic.
Almost as if it’s deliberately managed economic decline.
Reform UK are the only party going for home-produced oil and gas with lots of nuclear and getting rid of Net Zero. Nigel Farage drew a huge crown near Newton Abbot yesterday evening.
Yes, Reform are getting my vote
not my Reform candidate who says “no to fracking”
I agree, but then what?
Farage is much like the lying oaf Johnson but without the lies. He doesn’t do detail – I mean, how can you lead a party that has one purpose, leaving the EU, and have no plan as to how to achieve it and so must shoulder a lot of the responsibility for the poor Brexit we have had. And he is at it again on immigration by saying the civil service will come up with the details on how to do it. Really? The same civil service that might as well be employed by the people traffickers? The Right in this country needs a serious leader which is probably why we are behind Europe in this.
gezza1298 “a party that has one purpose, leaving the EU, and have no plan as to how to achieve it and so must shoulder a lot of the responsibility for the poor Brexit we have had”
What part of the BREXIT negotiations did Farage/UKIP/REFORM lead on?
The BRINO deal we have been lumbered with is solely down to May/Johnson.
Read Reform’s manifesto and tick what you like. You might be surprised.
Our political class have no Business Models simply because they have no business experience and are surrounded by SpAds with PPE groupthink. Of all the political leaders worldwide only one person stand s out as having built and managed a business hence the reason he thinks and acts differently to the rest……… Donald Trump!
You can have a modern, advanced economy or you can have Net Zero. You cannot have both.
It is like the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero which should really be the Department for Energy Security or Net Zero.
Currently without the ‘Energy Security’.
Department for Zero Energy Security and Nuts.
Oir north Devon MP hasn’t spoken out against onshore or offshore turbines. She’s pro the Celtic Sea project which will carve up an AONB and one of the largest sand dune systems in the British Isles. Unfortunately the only likely alternative is the Lib Dem candidate which will be even worse.
Selaine Saxby is an idiot. Vote for Nigel James, your Reform UK candidate.
Well it’s either him or the local independent who runs a pub on Exmoor.
It would be good to have MPs who are independent of political parties, but it is never going to happen.
Close now, with maximum publicity before 4 July.
Agreed. I see no reason for Stellantis to play games with the British government.
“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
People won’t buy battery cars – in a recent report, a majority of people who’d bought one have traded them in for an ICE vehicle
Nearly half of Australian and American owners have ditched their battery car for a proper one. For one vehicle owners the number must be very high leaving just the virtue-signallers. In the UK where we know the majority of sales are to lease companies they are going to be a second car and worth it as a tax break.
The whole ZEV policy was designed to shut down car manufacturing in the UK and “offshore” it to China, it was dreamed up by the CCC and its Civil Servants who have a total Not Zero understanding of commercial reality. If you manufacture 100 vehicles and 22 have to be BEV, but only 12 sell, you have to reduce the 78 ICE to balance the first years mandated target, quite possible in year one, but the following year unless BEV sales rise, which it won’t, the impact is across both sectors, no sales, no production, no high paying jobs, reduction in supply chain demand (ditto sales, production), for each car factory job, there are up to three is external supply chain, so the job losses mount up- but what the hell, there are going to be millions of high quality, high skill, high pay GREEN jobs for the unemployed to go into………..except no-one knows where they are.
Expect Miliband to target house building next with targets for new homes to be built not only to have heat pumps, solar panels or face similar financial penalties which given that vehicle production penalties start at £15,000 or approx 50% cost of a new vehicle, housing penalties would need to be £185,000- a real incentive to build homes.
Then having destroyed the motor industry, housing construction, they can look at targets for food production with penalties for the use of fertiliser, penalties for meat production.
Yes , the whole Climate Change fraud was invented to destroy Western Industry and their economies .
They are also moving on to the next aim of closing food production.https://www.ft.com/content/c7a4eeaa-3a00-4132-bac3-82e1d0650c78?sharetype=blocked
How insane can the whole thing become before people start to realise the truth .
“there are going to be millions of high quality, high skill, high pay GREEN jobs for the unemployed to go into………..except no-one knows where they are.“
Yes we do, … China, India, the Congo !!
No, they are low skill, low quality and definitely low – or slave – paid jobs. The question is not so much ‘where’ but ‘what’. And who is paying for them? I think we can all guess that they will be state-funded jobs that wouldn’t exist without taxpayers cash and there will be a diminishing amount of that to throw around.
Did I realy need to put a ‘sark‘ lable on my coment ???
This is grandstanding. ICE manufacturing only has a few more years anyway. The original ban on new ICEs was 2030, and I doubt if many manufacturers rethought their plans for closure when it was pushed back, given the mandate didn’t change and they need to reach 80% EVs by then still. It’s about avoiding the fines this year and next.
Remind me, what was the point of the conversions to EVs?
Virtue-signalling
Labour threatens to close UK car factories
Fixed it.
Not knowing where Ellesmere Port is, I used Google Earth to find and view some of the area. Then, searching for information, I learned a bit about
the region. Seems to be a place where nature and society (old and new) have collided. Other words apply.
An extended visit and tours with a variety of guides would make for a fantastic learning experience. Before it is too late! 🙂
It will be a museum soon enough.
But the solution is simple. Governments have always propped up “lame ducks”. If Vauxhall is threatening to shut down because it can’t afford a billion pound fine the government can provide a billion of state aid to keep the factories open. In fact, it can use the fine to pay the aid. Fixed it!
There are other ways to change government attitudes when the impositions they bring in rock hard on individuals’ freedoms and wishes. We do not now live in a ‘democratic’ country as the powers in Westminster have been infiltrated and turned by unelected entities that have their own axes to grind. That alternative, ultimately, may be civil unrest followed by revolution. It is now oft said that the ordinary people of this nation has become soft, supine and disinterested in matters of state, as long as they have some money and some freedom. But everyone has a limit to a tolerance of excessive imposition.