Vauxhall’s brand and “committed workforce” are highly valued, the business secretary has been told during talks in Paris over the future of thousands of jobs in the UK car industry.



Greg Clark travelled to Paris late on Thursday to meet his French counterpart, Christophe Sirugue, and board members of PSA Groupe, which is in talks to acquire General Motors’ loss-making European operation including Opel.

The deal would include Vauxhall, which has plants at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and Luton in Bedfordshire, which employ up to 4,500 staff.

Clark said: “I had constructive meetings in Paris with both my French counterpart and executives of PSA Group, in which they explained the rationale behind this potential alliance.

“They stressed that they valued highly the enduring strength of the Vauxhall brand, underpinned by its committed workforce. While discussions are still ongoing, they made clear to me that in any deal these were strengths they would wish to build on.



“We agreed to remain in close contact during the period ahead.”

The news comes after GM said it would put Vauxhall in the “strongest possible position for the future” after attending talks with the government and unions in London on Thursday.

The US carmarker’s president, Dan Ammann, met Clark and the Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey, to discuss mounting concerns from Vauxhall’s UK workforce.

McCluskey said he had received “no assurances at the moment” over the workforce, but added that “concrete proposals”were imminent.

However, Clark struck a more positive note, saying the GM talks had been constructive and he was reassured the plants would not be “rationalised”.

Unite is also seeking a meeting with PSA at the earliest opportunity to discuss the proposed deal which would shift Vauxhall and Opel into the French government-backed automotive group.

The tie-up would involve GM leaving Europe, and PSA becoming the second-largest European carmaker with a 16% market share.

After the GM talks, Clark said he “emphasised the importance and successful presence of Vauxhall in the UK and welcomed GM’s recognition of the excellent and committed workforce” at Ellesmere Port and Luton.

“There is some way to go in discussions between GM and PSA, but I was reassured by GM’s intention, communicated to me, to build on the success of these operations rather than rationalise them,” he added.

Vauxhall’s 35,000strong UK workforce includes 23,000 in its retail network, 300 at a customer contact centre in Luton and 7,000 in its supply chain alongside the workers at its two plants.

McCluskey said the UK government should demand that it took part in any future talks with the French and German governments and PSA and GM.

Earlier this week, he said Vauxhall’s UK plants must be offered the same government assurances as Nissan, adding: “It does seem as if Brexit is a factor in this decision as GM does rely heavily on its links throughout the EU supply chain.”

Nissan announced in October it was investing in production of new versions of two models at Sunderland after it received assurances that EU withdrawal would not affect the plant’s competitiveness.

Germany has already expressed concerns at the proposed takeover, with the German chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet discussing on Wednesday what impact the tie-up would have on the 19,000 German jobs at Opel.

PSA, which owns the Citroën and Peugeot brands, formed an alliance with GM in 2012 in an attempt to streamline production by combining purchasing power and larger scale.

GM said last year it had to raise UK car prices by 2.5% after the plunge in the value of the pound after the EU referendum result caused the British car industry to hit a “speed bump”.

Announcing its full-year results last week, the Detroit-based company said GM Europe had narrowed losses to $257m (£206 m) in the year to the end of December, from a loss of $813m the year before.