Luton's car industry faces dramatic change as Vauxhall ends 120-year story
Vauxhallʼs historic Luton factory shutdown affects over 1000 workers and countless supply-chain jobs. The closure highlights growing challenges in UKʼs car manufacturing sector due to new environmental rules
Last weekʼs news about Vauxhalls van-making factory in Luton hit the local community hard - its closing affects 1‚100 direct workers and many supply-chain jobs (a factory thats been there since the early 1900s)
The parent company Stellantis made this choice partly because of UKʼs strict zero-emission rules: they need to make sure 22% of their cars are electric this year or pay huge fines - about £15‚000 for each non-electric car below the target
The governments rules for car-makers are getting super-strict in coming years:
- 28% of sales must be electric next year
- 80% electric cars needed by 2030
- Complete ban on new petrol cars by 2035
People arent buying enough electric cars though; only about 19% of new cars sold between Jan-Oct were electric - way below what car-makers need to avoid fines. Carlos Tavares‚ the Stellantis boss‚ warned about this earlier: UKʼs rules make it hard to keep making cars here
The numbers dont look good for companies; they spent £4bn on electric car discounts but still face £1.8bn in fines this year. Its even worse because UKʼs rules are stricter than EUʼs - while Europe uses CO2 targets UK demands specific electric car percentages
Chinese companies (who make 60% of worlds electric cars) are getting ready to fill the gap; their cars are cheaper because of big government help back home. Local union leader Gary Brown says these green-rules are hurting working-class areas; now some politicians are starting to listen but its probably too late for Lutons workers
