Electric Corsa heads up Vauxhall’s push for profits

Vauxhall is launching an electric version of its Corsa hatchback as part of the company’s drive to return to profit by 2020.

The electric Corsa is the first vehicle to be announced under the company’s new owners, PSA - the French auto giant behind Peugeot and Citroen that also recently purchased Opel - which aims to make Vauxhall a European “leader” in electrification by 2024, reports Auto Express.

According to Carbuyer, the forthcoming electric Corsa, plus a plug-in hybrid version, will be among four new electrified models that will join the Vauxhall line-up by 2024.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The company will also share more parts from other firms under the PSA group, such as the EMP2 production platform that underpins the Peugeot 308, to speed up manufacturing and reduce costs, the website says.

Michael Lohscheller, CEO of Opel/Vauxhall, said: “This plan is paramount for the company, to protect our employees against headwinds and turn Opel/Vauxhall into a sustainable, profitable, electrified, and global company.”

“Aligning architecture and powertrain families will substantially reduce development and production complexity, thus allowing scale effects and synergies, contributing to overall profitability,” he added.

According to Autocar, Vauxhall and Opel declared losses of £190m in the second quarter of 2017.

In order to return to profitability, Lohscheller is aiming to save €1.1bn (£980m) by 2020 through synergies between the PSA Group and Vauxhall and Opel, and €1.7bn (£1.5bn) by 2026, reports the magazine.

Lohscheller said the profitability plan will not see any forced redundancies or closures at plants in Europe, including the Ellesmere Port factory, in Cheshire.