PSA will honour commitments to Vauxhall plants says business secretary
Peugeot will stick to commitments made to Vauxhall factories in the UK, according to business secretary Greg Clark.
Clark said he had a “constructive meeting” with the chief executive of Peugeot SA (PSA), Carlos Tavares, in a statement this afternoon.
“The meeting was reassuring,” Clark said. “We discussed how PSA's approach is to increase market share and expand production, rather than close plants.
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I was assured that the commitments to the plants would be honoured.
Earlier today the Unite union general secretary, Len McCluskey, said he had had a "relatively positive first meeting in which Mr Tavares gave assurances that current production commitments would be met."
Last Tuesday PSA sparked a scramble amongst trade unions and governments to secure jobs in Germany and Britain when it announced a possible takeover deal for General Motors’ European operations, which include UK-based Vauxhall and the German equivalent marque, Opel.
PSA’s takeover of General Motors in Europe will create the second largest European carmaker after Germany's Volkswagen if it is successful.
Tavares turned PSA’s performance round on taking the helm in part through a programme of aggressive cost-cutting, culling jobs in a successful bid to boost profitability.
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Confirming the takeover, the companies said they were looking at ways of "improving profitability and operational efficiency."
Clark also said he had a promise there will be no cuts to pensioners from the UK arm.
He said: “There was also recognition that members of the Vauxhall pension fund will be no worse off.”
Mr Tavares said no deal has been done, discussions continue and he and I agreed to stay in close touch. This is a very important company and workforce which has been successful and we all want it to be just as successful in the future.