ASTRA TO ROLL ON PLEDGES MAGNA; Production secured for beyond 2016.

Byline: NEIL HODGSON

CAR production will continue at Ellesmere Port's Vauxhall plant for at least another generation.

It has emerged that the plant has won a pledge from preferred bidder Magna to produce the latest Astra model beyond the current version rolling off production lines until 2016.

Providing the plant maintains its record as the most efficient General Motors site in Europe it has been guaranteed the replacement from 2016 and beyond.

Within Tuesday's deal announced by Unite the Union, the UK Government and Canadian auto parts maker Magna was a pledge that: "Assuming it maintains its competitive position, Ellesmere Port will produce the next generation Astra."

And the union is keen to build even further on the promise of continuous production by winning the right to build the electric vehicle Ampera which would add even more production capacity. The Ampera can be built on the same platform as the Astra.

During talks with Magna, rival plants in Germany at Bochum and Eisenach demanded the right to build the Ampera.

But unions and the UK Government are determined that Ellesmere Port should be the home of the Ampera, given the site's super efficient status and a government pledge of subsidies.

Meanwhile the deal between Magna and US car giant General Motors for a 55% stake in the European business is expected to be signed today.

And tomorrow, Ellesmere Port union convenor John Fetherstone will outline the details of the deal to the workforce at a 6.45am mass meeting.

He will tell staff that they hope to significantly scale back proposed job losses from the 830 feared after preliminary discussions with Magna to something like 230 after Magna agreed to increase annual production targets from 125,000 cars to 147,000, meaning more hours for the workforce.

Mr Fetherstone said: "We expect the job losses to be significantly reduced from the original figure of about 830.

"We are planning to retain about 600 of those jobs."

He declined to comment on reports that staff could be offered up to two years' salary to take redundancy.

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CAPTION(S):

SECURE: Ellesmere Port has won a pledge for continued Astra production beyond 2016, and (left) John Fetherstone