Car giants Peugeot and Fiat have announced plans to merge - and that could spark fears for the future of the Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire.
Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot today announced plans to join forces to create a new group that would be the fourth-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world.
The two companies' boards say the new company would be big enough to take on " the challenges of the new era in mobility" as demand for electric vehicles grows.
But unions say the merger plan is "deeply unsettling" - and one leading analyst has warned that the company's Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port and its hundreds of staff could be at risk.
Vauxhall also has a 海角视频 headquarters and manufacturing plant in Luton.
The new company would have combined revenues of 170bn euros (£146bn), an operating profit of over £9.5bn, and produce 8.7m cars a year - behind Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan alliance.
The combined market capitalisation would be around £43bn.
Once a merger is finalised, PSA Peugeot CEO Carlos Tavares will be chief executive of the new company with Fiat Chrysler chairman John Elkann taking the role of chairman.
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Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley would have a senior executive role and work closely with Mr Tavares.
"This convergence brings significant value to all the stakeholders and opens a bright future for the combined entity," Mr Tavares said in a statement.
Mr Manley called it "an industry-changing combination", and noted the long history of co-operation with Groupe PSA in the industrial vehicle sector in Europe.
In today's announcement, PSA and Fiat said they hoped to be able to achieve 3.7bn euros (£3.2bn) in cost savings "without any plant closures resulting from the transaction".
But speaking before the deal was confirmed, Professor David Bailey of Birmingham Business School warned that Ellesmere Port could be in the firing line.
He told BBC Radio 4 Today: "The Italian government will be very keen to preserve capacity at Fiat in Italy and it's also very underutilised at the moment.
"The French government is a part-shareholder of Peugeot so it will also be keen to maintain jobs and capacity in France.
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"I have a real fear that if this merger goes ahead then the likes of Ellesmere Port, which is actually a very efficient plant, could be sacrificed to get the sort of savings that the company is looking for especially in the context of all the uncertainty over Brexit."
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When the merger was first reported yesterday, trade union Unite demanded an urgent meeting with PSA bosses.
Unite national officer Des Quinn said: “Merger talks combined with Brexit uncertainty is deeply unsettling for Vauxhall’s 海角视频 workforce which is one of the most efficient in Europe.
“The fact remains, merger or not, if PSA wants to use a great British brand like Vauxhall to sell cars and vans in the 海角视频, then it has to make them here in the 海角视频.”