Workers at carmaker Vauxhall are confident the start of production of the new Astra model will secure the immediate future of the group's Ellesmere Port plant.
By John Bowker
However, its longer term viability remains uncertain since a consortium led by Canadian car parts group Magna agreed in principle to buy the European operations of Vauxhall's parent General Motors, largely made up of Germany's Opel.
The 2,200-employee plant at Ellesmere Port won the right to be lead assembler of the new Astra two years ago, and with work due to begin in late September staff are confident it is too late to cancel the project.
"There are no guarantees in the automotive industry (but) it would be a strange bidder who would say thanks but no thanks (to the new Astra)," said John Fetherston, lead convenor at the Vauxhall plant for trade union Unite.
Fetherston said almost all the required investment -- including 8 million pounds from the government -- was in place and workers were set to move to a 37.5 hour week from the current 30 hours.
Yet the new owners of GM Europe may scale back the business overall to reflect the downturn in the auto industry and Fetherston said the future of the plant after the new Astra reaches the end of its run was harder to forecast.
"In 2016 there will be the next Astra. We want a guarantee that production will start this September, and then a commitment to what comes next ... But there is obvious concern (and) uncertainty," he said.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson will make the case for Vauxhall when he holds talks on Thursday with German Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, his office said on Wednesday.
"The government is continuing to do all it can to secure the future of production at the Luton and Ellesmere Port plants," Mandelson said in a statement.
Derek Bateman, head of the Labour party at Cheshire West and Chester council and a former Vauxhall worker, said securing another generation of the Astra would be a tall order.
"The future is for a hybrid, or green, vehicle, but it is probably unlikely to be built at Ellesmere Port. We will campaign for it," he said.
A Vauxhall spokeswoman said Magna was still carrying out due diligence on GM Europe and a team from the consortium had this week toured Ellesmere Port and GM Europe's other UK plant at Luton.
A spokeswoman for the government's department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) said it was too soon to predict what would happen at Ellesmere Port.
"We are still in the early stages ... we need to see the business plans from Magna," she said.
GM Europe also has plants in Poland, Belgium and Spain as well as Germany. The German government brokered the deal with Magna, causing many in the industry to suspect any scaling back of the company will favour Germany, home of the Opel brand.
(Additional reporting by Frank Prenesti. Editing by David Holmes and Mike Nesbit)
England (Reuters)