UK fights to retain GM unit after Brexit

Business Secretary mounts another diplomatic bid to preserve auto manufacture in nation

UK Business Secretary Greg Clark travelled to Paris late on Thursday for meetings with French government and auto industry officials to press the case to retain manufacturing in the UK if Peugeot parent PSA Group buys General Motors Co.’s European arm.

Clark met with French Industry Minister Christophe Sirugue and two board members at PSA Group, said a government official familiar with the visit. He was seeking reassurances on GM’s operations in the UK, according to the official, who declined to be named because the visit isn’t public.

It’s the second time Clark has mounted a diplomatic effort to preserve auto manufacturing in the UK since the referendum to leave the European Union last year. While Brexit makes Vauxhall more vulnerable to any post-takeover cuts because of the threat of tariffs, leaving the EU may also weaken the UK government’s diplomatic clout as it seeks reassurances and concessions in Paris.

Unions have called on the government to offer Vauxhall similar reassurances as those given to Nissan Motor Co. last year to persuade the Japanese carmaker to make new investments at its plant in northeast England, even amid the risk of losing singlemarket access.

GM is in talks to sell its unprofitable European arm, which includes Germany’s Opel and its UK sister brand Vauxhall to PSA Group. German politicians are already lobbying to protect Opel jobs, and PSA, part-owned by the French state, is unlikely to make cuts at French plants.

“I had constructive talks with GM this morning where I emphasised the importance and successful presence of Vauxhall in the UK,” Clark said earlier on Thursday. “We will continue to be in close contact with GM and PSA in the days and weeks ahead.”

At stake is a near 115-yearold business that ranks as Britain’s number two car brand with 10 per cent of the market and employs 4,500 people, as well as supporting 17,000 jobs in its supply chain and 20,000 at sales outlets.

Vauxhall employs almost 2,000 people at its main plant at Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, and another 1,500 at Luton, north of London.