JLR’s Halewood plant help its bag two ‘Manufacturer Of The Year’ awards

The Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover’s Halewood plant has helped the UK's largest car producer claim two ‘Manufacturer of the Year’ titles in less than a week.

On June 17, Jaguar Land Rover was named as Britain's Manufacturer of the Year at the ‘Made in the UK’ Awards and on June 23, the company, represented by the Halewood plant, took the Manufacturer of the Year title at The Echo Regional Business Awards. This latest award success sees the Merseyside-based plants award tally rise to 13 since 2011.

Richard Else, Jaguar Land Rover, Operations Director - Halewood, said: “I am delighted that Halewood has been recognised for the role it has played in helping Jaguar Land Rover to become the UK’s largest vehicle manufacturer. It’s been an incredible few years for the plant since the introduction of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011. Production is at record levels as we continue to build cars on three shift 24 hour production to meet global demand. External recognition of the contribution we are making to the business and the UK economy is always heartening and is in no small part thanks to our passionate and committed team”.

One of Jaguar Land Rover’s three UK based vehicle manufacturing plants, Halewood Operations, is now in its 53^rd year as an automotive manufacturing facility and has witnessed a dramatic transformation since it secured production of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011. Since that time production and headcount has trebled as Jaguar Land Rover invested more than £600 million (Rs 5,905 crore) to support the introduction of new models, including the Land Rover Discovery Sport and most recently the Evoque Convertible.

These awards follow hot on the heels of the company’s Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) receiving its first award win when it was crowned ‘The Manufacturing Champion’ at the Express and Star Business Awards in the UK earlier this month. Commended for its “world class innovation, first class sales performance and a huge awareness of environmental responsibility” the EMC represents a £1 billion (Rs 9,843 crore) investment in the largest new manufacturing plant to be built in the UK in a decade.