Under plans developed by the Air Ministry in 1936, the Shadow factory plan headed up by Herbert Austin, aimed to increase production capacity in the British aircraft industry. The plan required the construction and development of nine new factories, and investment in the expansion or the capability of the United Kingdom's existing motor vehiclemanufacturing plants, to enable them to more quickly turn to aircraft production. Situated between the A45 and the A423 in Warwickshire, the factory became operational from 1940.
Post war
After the war the site became the headquarters of the Rootes Group, but when the organisation entered financial difficulties in the 1960s, the company, and thus the plant, were taken over by American car manufacturing giant Chrysler, along with the French manufacturer Simca. The Rootes models were gradually phased out during the 1970s; with the production of the Hillman Hunter and Avenger models being moved to the Linwood plant in Scotland, and Ryton began manufacturing the Simca-based Chrysler Alpine in 1976, and the Horizon from 1981; both of these models had initially been produced in France only. Ryton from that point onward, effectively became a shadow plant to the Simca factory at Poissy in France, which broadly produced exactly the same models. Chrysler itself entered financial difficulties, and in 1978 sold the plant, along with the rest of its European operations for a symbolic US$1.00 to PSA Peugeot Citroën. Peugeot adopted the dormant Talbot brand for the former Chrysler and Simca models, but falling sales saw it decide to axe the Talbot brand on passenger cars in the mid 1980s, but retain the Ryton plant for production of its own models. Peugeot started building their 309 there in October 1985, and, by the end of 1987, it was joined by the 405. Both the 309 and 405 had helped boost Peugeot's market share within the United Kingdom in the end of the 1980s, following the original increase spearheaded by the French built 205 from 1983. 309 production was concentrated wholly at Poissy from 1989, although Ryton began producing its 306 successor at Ryton from the end of 1992. The 306 proved even more popular than its predecessor. The 405 was phased out between 1995 and 1997, and its 406 successor was produced in France, leaving the 306 as the only production model at Ryton for a while. The second production line was revived in August 1998, with the commencement of production of the 206, and the 206 was the only car produced at the plant, after the end of production of the 306 in March 2001. The 206 was most successful Peugeot model to be produced at Ryton. In January 2004, Peugeot decided not to manufacture the future207 model at Ryton, thus leaving the factory in danger of being shut down, although two years of uncertainty followed this announcement. In February 2004, the 1,000,000th 206 rolled off the production line.
Closure
In April 2006, Peugeot decided that the Ryton plant would close during July 2007. In October 2006, however, Peugeot announced it would close its plant six months sooner than expected. In the event, it closed on 12 December 2006, and the site was sold to developer Trenport Investments Ltd for industrial use in March 2007. The plant was demolished in November 2007. In October 2012, Network Rail acquired the site from Prologis, and constructed a haulage distribution centre. The centre opened the following year, and serves as a hub for the National Delivery Service for Network Rail.
