GM Car Production UK: 1996 - 2012

By Gavin Kalsi Friday 14 July 2017

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Looking at a list like this, you can see how GM Europe operates, that is with short term policies. GM Vauxhall is a popular brand in the UK, but GM decided to cut back to one model by 2005. I struggle to see how consistent profit can be made, with model cycles as they are, even with flexible labour options in the UK. By that I mean not too hard to lay workers off.

Still, GM knows it needs a manufacturing presence in the UK with the loyalty UK buyers show it's cars and therefore the importance of the UK to GM Europe.

Below we see the Astra as the stable element in the time from '96, with the Vectra a valauble contributor to production numbers when it was made at Luton. The Frontera SUV was solid if unspectacular and the Speedster was made by Lotus for GM.

	Yr	Total	Astra	Vectra	Frontera	Speedst
	96	297,700	112,400	155,800	29,500	-
	97	284,500	102,000	157,500	25,000	-
	98	277,300	98,200	154,500	24,600	-
	99	339,000	154,700	145,600	38,700	-
	00	290,800	154,100	103,100	33,500	100
	01	193,700	132,300	51,400	7,000	3,000
	02	138,500	48,300	75,300	13,000	1,900
	03	133,600	30,300	92,600	9,500	1,200
	04	146,900	126,000	20,400	-	500
	05	189,400	189,200	-	-	200
	06	143,700	143,700	-	-	-
	07	115,500	115,500	-	-	-
	08	102,500	102,500	-	-	-
	09	76,700	76,700	-	-	-
	10	102,700	102,700	-	-	-
	11	138,000	138,000	-	-	-
	12	90,200	90,200	-	-	-
	Av	180,041	112,753	106,244	22,600	1,150