Next Astra to be built in Britain

GM has announced that the next generation of Astra will be built at the Ellesmere Port plant in the UK.That’s good new for the 2200 workers currently employed at Ellesmere. The Cheshire plant had previously been overshadowed by the threat of closure.The new Astra is due to replace the current Astra in 2010, and will also be built at GM’s plants in Bochum, Germany; Trollhättan, Sweden; and Gliwice, Poland.There are no plans to make the car at the factory in Antwerp where the current Astra is also made, though GM says it does not intend to close it. It is likely, however, that there will be around 1400 job losses at the Belgian plant.