Last Vauxhall Astra rolls off line at Ellesmere Port

The final British-built Vauxhall Astra has rolled off the production line at Ellesmere Port, ending a run that has seen more than four million models produced since 1981.

From early 2023, the Cheshire plant will produce the Vauxhall Combo-e and its sibling electric vans, the Citroën ë-Berlingo and Peugeot e-Partner – part of Vauxhall’s commitment to switch to selling only EVs from 2028.

The last Vauxhall built was an Astra Sport Tourer SRi Nav in red with manual transmission. The all-new Astra will now be built at Opel’s Rüsselsheim site in Germany.

“Over the last 60 years, Ellesmere Port has become one of the great British car plants, producing some of the most popular cars on the roads across generations,” said Paul Willcox, managing director of Vauxhall and senior vice-president at Stellantis.

“With one era closing, we’re now looking forward to an all-new electric era at Ellesmere, with the site becoming the first Stellantis plant to produce solely electric vehicles.

“Vauxhall is fast moving towards an electric future and I’m pleased to see the next-generation of Vauxhall electric vehicles made in Britain.”

Ellesmere Port opened in 1962 and over the years has built small/medium Vauxhall/Opel vehicles, beginning with the Vauxhall Viva. In all, some 5.2 million vehicles have rolled off the production line.

Vauxhall’s parent company, Stellantis, has invested £100 million into the site to support its transformation into the first of the firm’s plants to only produce EVs.