UK "On The Sidelines" at Vauxhall's - Derek Simpson.

The future of the UK’s automotive industry remains uncertain with LDV filing for bankruptcy and the fate Vauxhall hanging in the balance.

The news that Midlands van maker LDV has failed to find a buyer has resulted in its workforce being slashed from 850 to just 40 by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The move puts the future of an estimated further 5,000 jobs at dealerships and suppliers at risk.

Even if a buyer is found there are fears that production will be taken overseas, ending decades of production at the former British Leyland plant in Birmingham.

Tony Woodley, said: “This is a bitter blow for manufacturing and the West Midlands region in particular.”

The future of Vauxhall also remains uncertain despite the European arm of General Motors, of which it is a part along with German-based Opel, being sold to Canadian car parts maker Magna International.

Full details of what the purchase will entail may not emerge until later this year.

There are also underlying fears amongst Vauxhall’s UK workers that as their sale was brokered by the Germany government, British rather than German plants will bear the brunt of any redundancies and plant closures, despite Vauxhall having a greater domestic market share than Opel.


"The Germans have been central to this. We appear to have been on the sidelines," said Derek Simpson, Unite joint general secretary. "With the German plants literally guaranteed security, thanks presumably to the German government's involvement and the billions of euros that they seem to be putting up, that causes a worry for everyone else.


"Thousands of jobs are at stake at Luton and Ellesmere Port. Once lost they won't return; our manufacturing capability and the UK's R&D base will be left hamstrung. It's no good providing billions to the banks but buttons for manufacturing.”


Any losses and closures will have major ramifications for suppliers, with the sipplies industry - glass, platics, rubber and packagaing already reeling from the downturn in the automotive sector, with workers facing job losses again.