Pressure on UK Vauxhall sites

÷ PSA Group is pushing the UK factories acquired in its deal for General Motors’ European operations to make a leap in competitiveness to offset potential Brexit risks.

British Vauxhall plants — where production costs are about twice as high as French sites — face hurdles in either a hard or soft Brexit scenario, said CEO Carlos Tavares in an interview in Berlin. If the UK agrees an EU trade deal, the plants will need to be competitive with facilities in continental Europe. Without a deal, they will need to vie with factories overseas, he said.