Opel to Build Next Astra in U.K., Poland

General Motors Co.'s Adam Opel unit confirms it intends to produce the next-generation Astra compact cars at plants in Ellesmere Port, England, and Gliwice, Poland, starting in 2015.

Opel says adding third shifts at both factories will enable them to operate profitably at full capacity utilization. The company, which will invest about €150 million at each facilty, also plans to make more parts there.

Opel also makes the Astra at a factory in Russelsheim, Germany. The company says it will phase out the model there when the current version is replaced in 2014. Opel vows that the facility, which also makes the Insignia and Buick Regal, will continue to operate at full capacity. The company says it will discuss future product plans with its unions "in due course."

The Polish plant will continue to make the Astra because of its "very competitive" costs and a workforce that has "embraced the spirit of continuous improvements" and flexibility, according to Opel.

The Ellesmere factory kept the work because of a new, more flexible labor pact that will run for the life of the next-generation Astra, the company says. Analysts had expected GM to close the facility and a plant in Bochum, Germany. Instead, Opel has guaranteed annual output of at least 160,000 cars at Ellesmere Port, 20,000 units more than last year.

German union leaders fear Opel aims to shift all the work now done at Bochum to Russelsheim. The company has committed to making the Zafira MPV in Bochum through 2014. But reports speculate PSA Peugeot Citroen will build the next generation Zafira under its partnership with GM. The Bochum factory also builds an older version of the Astra for eastern Europe.