LONDON (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) said on Monday no final decision had been made on whether to scale back production at its British carmaking plant but it was planning for an expected slowdown in sales of its Opel Astra model.þþUnion sources and press reports said the carmaker was considering cutting the third shift at its Astra/Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port in northwest England, resulting in 1,000 job losses.þþAny job losses would follow last month's decision by French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) to close its central England plant, eliminating 2,300 jobs, and the collapse of British carmaker MG Rover last year.þþA GM Europe spokesman in Zurich said no final decision had been made, and the company was looking at capacity issues at all its Astra plants.þþ``At this point there is no final decision, but we do need to look forward into the future,'' the spokesman said.þþ``Astra production has wildly exceeded expectations in its first couple of years, and we just don't expect it to continue to be at that level of market demand as it goes through its product life cycle.''þþAn Opel spokesman in Germany said the third shift at all Astra plants was under review. It also makes Astras in Antwerp, Belgium and Bochum, Germany.þþ``This is being discussed at the moment. The third shift at Astra plants is under discussion ... all Astra plants are potentially affected,'' the spokesman said.þþSold as a Vauxhall Astra in Britain, the Astra is GM's best-selling vehicle in Europe, with around 534,000 units sold last year, GM says.þþGM Europe is in the process of cutting 12,000 jobs -- nearly a fifth of the workforce -- to slash its fixed costs.þþGM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster, quoted in German magazine Wirtschaftswoche on Monday, would not rule out further job cuts in Europe.þþ``We are working wholeheartedly on making our western European plants so productive that they can stand up to the plants in the East and the theoretical question of transferring work does not even arise,'' he said.þþUnion sources said they expected jobs would go at the Ellesmere Port plant, but talks with the company were at an early stage.þþCutting Astra production jobs now is a separate matter than deciding which GM plants will get to build the next generation Astra to be launched in 2010. That decision is due next year.þþ
Source: NY Times
