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| The Opel - Vauxhall Astra |
Sales of cars in Europe going well but still short of a peak figure. Added to that is GM Europe's determination to be profitable rather than win sales races. Combined, it means that production capacity needs to mirror sales as closely as possible. Plants have been closed and the leaner GM Europe is shown below. Total production at the facilities below are up 2.2%.
Breakdown by nation:
Spain for the first time I am aware of is the largest supplier of vehicles for Opel and Vauxhall. It gained 11.1% and accounted for 36% of volume. Corsa, Meriva and Mokka models are made there.
For Germany it was the end of vehicle production at Borchum and total production was inevitably down 29.1%. In the remaining two plants total production did increase. The Adam and Corsa are made in Eisenach while the Zafira Tourer and Insignia come from Rüsselsheim.
Poland became the third largest producer in 2015, with a 90.4% increase. The extra volume was due to the Astra model, while the Cascada also hails from there.
The UK dropped to 4th on the national list, but still increased 25.9%. The Astra is made in Ellesmere Port and the Vivaro van Luton.
France has the first of the car plants not owned by GM. The Batilly facility - known as SoVAB - is owned by Renault and makes the Movano van for GM. Sandouville is likewise a Renault plant and it makes the high roof version of the Vivaro, which were previously made at Luton and Nissan Barcelona. Between the two facilites production grew 4.3%.
At Bursa in Turkey, the small Combo van is made at plant owned by Tofas. Volume was up 18.7% in 2015.
Finally at the GM operation in St Petersburg, Astra production is coming to an end. The economic situation in Russia forced GM Europe's hand, with units made down 94.4%.
Production outside of Europe is confined to just Bupyeong, South Korea. There the Antara and Mokka models are made. Volume from there was down slightly at -0.5%.
Production of the Agila ended at the Suzuki plant in Hungary and the Ampera model in the USA.
| GM EUROPE | |||||||||
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Plant | 2015 | % | +/- | |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Spain | 359,454 | 36% | 11% | |
| Zaragoza | 359,454 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Germany | 258,911 | 26% | -29% | |
| Rüsselsheim | 142,663 | ||||||||
| Eisenach | 116,248 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | Poland | 169,405 | 17% | 90% | |
| Gilwice | 169,405 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | UK | 153,077 | 15% | 26% | |
| Ellesmere Port | 92,257 | ||||||||
| Luton | 60,820 | ||||||||
| 7 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 5 | France | 26,818 | 3% | 4% | |
| Batilly | 21,703 | ||||||||
| Sandouville | 5,115 | ||||||||
| 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | Turkey | 24,015 | 2% | 19% | |
| Bursa | 24,015 | ||||||||
| 6 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 7 | Russia | 567 | 0% | -94% | |
| St Petersburg | 567 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | 8 | 7 | - | Hungary | - | |||
| Esztergom | - | ||||||||
| Total Europe | 992,247 | 3% | |||||||
| OVERSEAS PRODUCTION | |||||||||
| South Korea | 147,231 | 15% | -1% | ||||||
| Total Overseas | 147,231 | -1% | |||||||
| Grand Total | 1,139,478 | 2% | |||||||
Data source: GM Europe.
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| The popular Vivaro van |
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