The ousting of Carlos Tavares as boss of Vauxhall’s owner is unlikely to save its Luton van plant, industry experts have warned. Stellantis’s arch cost-cutter announced he would axe the factory with the loss of up to 1,

The closure of the Vauxhall plant in Luton will cost the town a total of about 3,700 jobs and have a £310m impact on the local area's economy, a council leader told BBC Politics East. On Tuesday, Stellantis, the owner of Vauxhall, announced plans to close its Bedfordshire van-making factory, putting about 1,100 jobs at the plant at risk.

Vauxhall started making cars in 1903 in South London but moved to a new factory in Kimpton Road Luton in 1905. Car manufacturing in at the Bedfordshire plant ended in 2002 - the last car to roll of the production line was a Vectra - after nearly 100 years, leading to 1,900 job losses.