BMW, PSA Both Shutting Down UK Plants Despite Brexit Delay

BMW‘s Mini brand and PSA’s Vauxhall have gone ahead with plans to shut down their UK plants in order to help their parent companies deal with any possible disruptions resulting from Brexit, which has been delayed.

BMW will shut down its Mini plant in Oxford this month in order to minimize the risk of any possible parts supply disruption, resulting from a no-deal Brexit. PSA, which now builds Astra models at its Ellesmere Port factory near Liverpool, is also moving ahead with a shutdown.

“This is what our company and our workforce have planned for over many months and it is fixed into our business planning,” stated a BMW spokesman.

The German automaker is also shutting down its central English Hams Hall engine factory and Swindon press shop and sub-assembly site for four weeks, and said that it might move some engine and Mini output out of the UK in case of a no-deal Brexit, reports Autonews Europe.

Britain exiting the European Union has now been delayed from March 29th until at least April 12th, but that date could be pushed back even further by the looks of things – which in turn has interfered with certain automakers’ contingency plans.

Factory shutdowns like BMW’s Mini plant or PSA’s Vauxhall factory are organized far in advanced so that employees can still schedule their vacations and suppliers can adjust volumes.

A no-deal Brexit won’t just cause supply delays at the ports, but will also lead to new customs bureaucracy plus an up to 10% tariff on finished models.