General Motors Europe has revealed it will shut its Opel factory in Antwerp at the end of this year after failing to find a buyer for it.

The closure affects 1,200 jobs in Belgium and GM Europe was originally intending to shut the Antwerp site earlier this year, but tried to find a buyer for the factory before the end of September.

The factory produced Astra convertible and estate cars for export outside Belgium.

Opel said most of the additional job cuts have already been completed at factories in UK, as well as Spain and Germany.

The Antwerp factory closure is part of GM Europe’s restructure after its parent company GM went bankrupt last year.