Vauxhall has ramped up its vehicle conversion programme with the opening of a dedicated police and emergency services vehicle factory at Luton, near the plant where the Vivaro van is built.
The new facility, which is claimed to be the largest police car factory in Europe, will convert 2,500 vehicles per year, including both cars and vans, for use by police forces, fire services and ambulance services nationwide.
The move brings all Vauxhall’s police conversion operations in-house, with the work previously done by external providers in Milbrook. 50 new jobs have been created at Luton as a result of the move.
Police conversion is big business for Vauxhall, which dominates the supply of vehicles to police fleets nationwide with a 70 per cent market share of competitive segments.
A range of different Vauxhall models will be converted for use by the emergency services at the Luton facility. CV models such as Combo, Movano and Vivaro, as well as cars including Corsa, Astra, Insignia and Mokka, are all used by different forces across the country.
With the opening of the new factory, Vauxhall has become the only manufacturer to offer a one-stop service for blue-light vehicles. Everything from testing to converting and even remarketing of decommissioned vehicles can now be done in-house.
Vauxhall also claims that 90 per cent of the material required for its emergency services conversions is sourced from UK suppliers.
