PSA Will Decide Fate of Vauxhall Plant in 2020

CEO Carlos Tavares says PSA Group won’t have to decide whether to continue operations at its plant in Ellesmere Port, England, until about 2020, Reuters reports.

PSA announced last October that the factory, which had been operating at only 63% of capacity, was dropping one of two shifts and eliminating 400 jobs. In January the company cut another 250 positions.

Ellesmere Port currently makes the seventh-generation Opel/Vauxhall Astra small hatchback and wagon. Those models aren’t due for a major update until 2023. New-product assignments typically occur three years ahead of production.

Tavares describes 2020 as the perfect moment to make a decision. By then, he says, the U.K. will have resolved the outcome of its exit from the EU, and PSA will know how much the Ellesmere Port plant has been able to lower costs and improve quality.