Dunstable deadline
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ses of up to £8m. This follows losses of St 5m in 1988, S3. 1m in 1987 and £10. 8m in 1986.
Capron insists that the new co-operative agreement with Volvo Truck Corporation has nothing to do with the Dunstable situation.
If the Dunstable plant does close, RV1 will switch production to its plants in France and will continue to distribute Renault trucks through Rh.
Dieter Merz, managing director of RTI says a major restructuring programme is underway at Dunstable to improve productivity and quality. "By the second part of the year we should see whether there has been an improvement in terms of cost and quality," he says. "If there has not, we will have to reconsider whether we will keep the plant . . it is not essential to build here. "If we did not think it was possible we would have closed down by now," he adds, "but it is difficult to reduce 40% of your head count as we are doing." Dunstable last year produced 3,522 trucks with 675 production staff. By way of contrast Volvo's plant at Irvine produced 4,500 trucks with fewer than 400 staff, says Merz.