Vauxhall Motors (/ˈvɒksɔːl/; registered name General Motors UK Limited) is a British automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Luton, United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Adam Opel AG, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors (GM). It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for over two decades.
Vauxhall has major manufacturing facilities in Luton (commercial vehicles, owned by sister company IBC Vehicles) and Ellesmere Port, UK (passenger cars). The Luton plant currently employs around 1,085 staff and has a capacity of approximately 100,000 units. The Ellesmere Port plant currently employs around 2,100 staff and has a capacity of approximately 187,000 units. The current Vauxhall car range includes the Adam (City car), Agila (Microvan), Ampera (Extended Range Electric Vehicle), Astra (small family car), Corsa (supermini), Insignia (large family car), Meriva (mini MPV), Mokka (subcompact crossover) and Zafira Tourer (compact MPV).
Since 1980 Vauxhall products have been largely identical to those of Opel, GM's German subsidiary, and most models are principally engineered in Rüsselsheim, Germany. A high proportion of Vauxhall-branded vehicles sold in the UK are produced at Opel factories in Germany, Spain and Poland, and roughly 80% of Vauxhall production is exported, most of which is sold under the Opel brand.
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Famous quotes containing the word motors:
“When General Motors has to go to the bathroom ten times a day, the whole country’s ready to let go. You heard of that market crash in ‘29? I predicted that.... I was nursing a director of General Motors. Kidney ailment, they said; nerves, I said. Then I asked myself, “What’s General Motors got to be nervous about?” “Overproduction,” I says. “Collapse.””
—John Michael Hayes (b. 1919)