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Vauxhall fears after car giants Fiat and PSA announce merger

Fiat Chrysler is to merge with Vauxhall’s owner PSA to create the world’s fourth largest car company.

The two sides say they have yet to finalise all the details, but the 50-50 merger is expected to provide significant cost savings.

That has raised concerns at Vauxhall, which employs 3,000 people in the UK, as it could be vulnerable to any restructuring.

Unions called for talks with France’s PSA, which owns Peugeot and Citroen.

Fiat Chrysler, the Italian-US business behind Jeep, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, has been looking for a big tie-up for years, believing that consolidation in the global industry is needed to cuts costs and overcapacity, and fund investment in electric vehicles.

It has tried previously to form alliances with General Motors and Renault.

A combined Fiat Chrysler-PSA will have a market value of about $50bn (£39.9bn) with annual sales of 8.7 million vehicles. The companies said there are no plans to shut factories, but UK unions are uneasy about the impact on Vauxhall.

“Merger talks combined with Brexit uncertainty is deeply unsettling for Vauxhall’s UK workforce which is one of the most efficient in Europe,” said Unite national officer Des Quinn.

“The fact remains, merger or not, if PSA wants to use a great British brand like Vauxhall to sell cars and vans in the UK, then it has to make them here in the UK.”

 

Read More – www.bbc.co.uk