PSA Could Decide to Move Opel Astra from the UK to Germany

According to a report picked up by Autonews Europe, PSA is thinking of pulling the Astra from its home of two decades after the next generation arrives in late 2021 or perhaps even sooner. Before selling the brand to the French, General Motors wanted to do the same thing back in 2016, so the writing is clearly on the wall with this one.

Only about a quarter of the parts need to make an Astra are made in Britain, so it doesn't make sense to keep it there after Brexit, leaving trade exposed to taxes. Its new home could be Opel’s home plant in Rüsselsheim, where the company has excess capacity after killing the Zafira MPV this summer.

Our source claims that although an official decision will come in the next few weeks, only two options are being taken into consideration. Either they keep about 75% of Astra production in the UK and move the rest from Poland to Germany or have 75% in Rüsselsheim and let Britain assemble its right-hand-drive models. However, it's possible that RWD versions of cars like the Peugeot 308 might also be made.

According to our info, the next-generation Astra will be based on the EMP2 platform and should be slightly shorter. All of the engines will be developed by PSA and shared with sister models like the 308. These will include the 1.2-liter turbo and the new 1.5-liter diesel unit.

However, the real headline grabbers will be a GT-type plug-in hybrid with around 220 horsepower and a pure electric version with around 300 km of range.