The 900,000th Vauxhall Vivaro will go on the road with AA Patrol of the Year, Tony Rich.

Who says Britain doesn’t manufacture anything anymore?

Although the loss of the Ford Transit plant in Southampton was a blow to the UK’s automotive industry, Vauxhall continues to fly the flag as the UK’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. The Luton-based firm has just celebrated the 900,000th Vivaro van built at its Luton plant.

The model, which was painted yellow, will join the AA’s fleet and was handed over to AA Patrol of the Year Tony Rich, who will drive the van when it goes on the road.

More than 150,000 of the 900,000 Vivaros built at Luton have been sold in Britain, including 9,000 so far this year. Although the model is getting slightly long in the tooth and is due for replacement, it remains a popular model that’s good to drive and economical to run.

Fortunately, Vauxhall is planning to build the next-generation Vivaro at Luton, and production is due to start next year.

Facility changes have begun with important upgrades already installed in the body shop. Significant investment has been made in the project including €95 million in the specific plant changes and €112 million in vendor tooling, of which €34 million was spent in the UK, and €12 million on facilities.  The plant will source 40 per cent of its content locally for the new vehicle, too, although I don’t know how this compares with the current Vivaro.

Vauxhall’s Luton plant employs more than 2,500 people directly and the firm reckons that a further 15,000 are employed indirectly, by virtue of the plant’s existence and activities. The Luton plant built 53,000 vans in 2012 and is currently running at a rate of 198 per day, of which around 60% are exported, based on this year’s figures.

Of course, the intriguing question is if Vauxhall can build a medium van so successfully in the UK, why can’t Ford?