(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government will continue discussions with Stellantis NV over support for a car factory in England that the manufacturer has threatened to close.
“The government is absolutely committed to ensuring the future of manufacturing” at the Ellesmere Port site near Liverpool, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday in parliament. Authorities in the coming days and weeks will “continue this intensive dialog with the company,” he said.
The government is under pressure to reach a deal with Stellantis to safeguard the plant and avoid it becoming a post-Brexit manufacturing casualty. Options for the factory, which employs about 1,000 people and makes Opel and Vauxhall models, include shutting it down if the state fails to provide adequate support, the company has said.
Stellantis is considering revamping the factory for production of fully electric cars, Bloomberg News reported last week, a move that would reflect the U.K.'s planned combustion-engine ban from 2030. For the overhaul to go through, the company is seeking financial incentives and commitments on the post-Brexit trade of auto parts, including batteries.
Ellesmere Port has emerged as an early test case for the U.K.'s carmaking prospects after the trade agreement reached in late December. Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares froze spending in the country due to Brexit-related uncertainty. The factory is key for the region's economy, with as many as 7,000 supply-chain workers depending on it for their livelihoods, the Unite union has said.
The U.K. government is also trying to develop a local battery-making industry, Kwarteng said, predicting the country would need more than one so-called gigafactory before the 2024 election.
“We remain dedicated, absolutely committed to securing U.K. battery manufacturing,” he said. “There are number of sites that we're looking at.”
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