General Motors has confirmed today that Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant has been saved, securing the jobs of 2,100 staff. As we reported yesterday, production of the new Astra will happen at Ellesmere Port, with GM’s two German factories, Bochum and Russelsheim, being the casualties of the move; Bochum is likely to close.

The official announcement is expected any day now, but the odds of Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant surviving appear to have improved. Rumours from Germany suggest that General Motors’ current plan is to concentrate Astra production in Poland and the UK, while stopping the Astra production lines in two German factories, Bochum and Russelsheim.  If true, Bochum would then close and Russelsheim would concentrate on the Insignia, and weirdly, could make Citroens