PSA Group (www.groupe-psa.com), Europe’s leading builder of light commercial vehicles (LCVs), intends to strengthen its market share in this segment in Europe — and accelerate its development in other regions.

The company says the increase in manufacturing capacity in the compact-vans segment will see customers supplied from its Luton plant by 2019, as well as from the existing Hordain facility in France.

PSA Group reported record LCV unit sales of 476,500 in 2017, an increase of 15% on 2016. Adding in passenger-car derivatives (the Peugeot Traveller and Citroën SpaceTourer, for example), the Group sold 658,000 units in 2017.

The investment in Luton is “being driven” through a performance plan negotiated between the Unite trade union and the Luton plant, along with the plant’s “recognised know-how in the manufacture of LCVs and the flexibility of its existing paint shop”.

The performance plan has been facilitated by both dialogue with the Unite union (guaranteeing production flexibility) and the support of the UK Government and Luton Borough Council.

In 2017, the Luton plant produced 60,000 Opel/Vauxhall Vivaros; the investment aims at increasing the plant’s production capacity to 100,000 vehicles per year based on the PSA Group’s EMP2 platform.

PSA Group chairman Carlos Tavares said: “Performance is the trigger for sustainability, and I would like to thank all stakeholders involved and underline the open mindset of our union partners, as well as that of the UK Government.

"This is a major milestone for the future of the Luton plant.”