Jaguar Land Rover creates 250 new jobs as Halewood is confirmed as home of new discovery sport

250 new jobs have been created by the United Kingdom’s largest automotive employer as the Land Rover Discovery Sport was confirmed as the latest model to be produced at Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant. 

The additional jobs generated to support Jaguar Land Rover’s newest model will see the Halewood workforce reach 4,750 – more than treble the number employed in 2010. 

The Halewood plant, which is already home to Jaguar Land Rover’s fastest selling model of all time, the Range Rover Evoque, has benefited from a GBP 200 million investment to support the introduction of the first member of the all-new Land Rover Discovery family. This takes the total amount invested in Halewood over the last four years to almost GBP 500 million. 

The new Land Rover Discovery Sport, which will go on sale in 2015, will be the most versatile and capable vehicle in the compact SUV segment. It is the first member of an all-new family of Discovery vehicles, inspired by the Discovery Vision Concept which was spectacularly showcased at the New York International Auto Show. 

“In many ways, Halewood has embodied the transformation of Jaguar Land Rover. 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,” commented Richard Else, Jaguar Land Rover Halewood Operations Director. 

The arrival of this exciting new vehicle at Halewood has doubled investment in the plant since 2010. In addition to a GBP 45 million state-of-the-art Aida servo press line installed in March of this year, Jaguar Land Rover has installed 260 new automated robots, industry leading laser welding facilities and a number of cutting-edge equipment monitoring and reporting systems to support an unrelenting focus on quality. 

Halewood became home to Jaguar Land Rover’s top selling model, the Range Rover Evoque, in 2011. Within two years, the plant had produced more than 200,000 vehicles, a record volume for a single vehicle line at any Jaguar Land Rover facility. Today the Range Rover Evoque continues to attract new customers to the Land Rover brand. Sales in May were up 12% year-on-year, with more than 80% of production exported to 170 global markets.