Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood factory will produce the firm’s new Discovery Sport model creatig 250 new jobs.
The addition of 250 jobs at Halewood will take the total workforce at the site to 4,750. This is over three times the number of people employed there in 2010.
Dr Ralf Speth said that he is delighted Halewood has been made responsible for the production of the Discovery Sport. He said the investment is “totally deserved, and strengthens the ‘special relationship’ that bonds Jaguar Land Rover to this great city.”
JLR’s Halewood plant already manufacturers the company’s fastest selling model of all time, the Range Rover Evoque.
In preparation for the launch of the new Discovery family of JLR cars, the site has invested £200m in new manufacturing capabilities including; a £45 million state-of-the-art Aida servo press line, 260 new automated robots, industry leading laser welding facilitates and a number of state of the art equipment monitoring and reporting systems to support quality.
These investment take the total amount invested in Halewood over the last four years to almost £500 million.
Richard Else, Jaguar Land Rover Halewood operations director, said: “I am delighted to be welcoming the new Land Rover Discovery Sport to Halewood. Its arrival has been a further boost to the region and to our committed and loyal workforce who are all passionate ambassadors for this great company.”
Mr Else continued to say that he believes his plant embodies the spirit of the wider transformation JLR has experienced in recent years.
“We have seen our work force treble and production quadruple in just four years. Today we are operating three shifts, 24-hours a day to meet global demand and I am confident that the team will rise to the challenge and deliver a flawless launch of this exciting new model,” he concluded.
