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Vauxhall's £270m loan guarantee
12 March 2010
The British government has confirmed it will provide General Motors Europe with a £270 million loan guarantee to help secure the future of Vauxhall in Britain.
Announcing the loan guarantee, business secretary Lord Mandelson said the money would provide extra security to Vauxhall workers at its Ellesmere Port and Luton factories.
“I always said the Government would stand foursquare behind Vauxhall and with this announcement today we have kept our word,” he said. “These are excellent plants employing a first rate workforce.
“We need Vauxhall to thrive as part of Britain's automotive manufacturing base and following our negotiations with GM Europe I am confident it will do so.”
GM had originally planned to sell Opel/Vauxhall to Canadian parts supplier Magna, but it reversed this decision late last year, instead deciding to invest an extra 1.9 billion euro (£1.7bn) in the firm.
To do this, however, it needs a further 2.0bn euro (£1.8bn) from governments across Europe have GM factories within them, 60 per cent of which is being requested from Germany. Britain is the first government that has provided a loan guarentee.
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