May to meet PSA chief over Vauxhall takeover plan

Prime Minister Theresa May is soon going to meet with PSA chief executive Carlos Tavares to draw a complete road map to take over the European arm of General Motors, which includes Britain's Vauxhall cars, her office said.

"We have received a meeting request. The meeting will take place, in principle, subject to diary availability," a Downing Street spokesman told AFP.

It emerged this week that PSA, which owns the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands, is in talks to take over GM's European brands Opel and Vauxhall.

The plans have sparked fears of job losses in Britain, where Vauxhall employs about 35,000 people, as well as in Germany. Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Britain's biggest union, Unite, is also due to meet with Tavares next week.

"I will be using this meeting to press the case for the UK's world class facilities and workforce," he said.

British economy minister Greg Clark met Thursday with GM president Dan Ammann in London, and said he was "reassured" by the US firm's plans for its European interests. He noted that GM had recently made "significant investments" at its Ellesmere Port and Luton plants.

Clark later travelled to Paris for separate meetings with French Industry minister Christophe Sirugue and board members of PSA Group.

The Financial Times reported today that, during those talks, Clark offered PSA similar assurances to those given to Nissan last year in a bid to save Vauxhall jobs.

Britain's automobile sector is expected to suffer from Brexit, which would entail leaving the EU's single market. Japanese carmaker Nissan said in October that it would continue to invest in its Sunderland plant after securing unspecified guarantees about Brexit from the British government.