Hundreds of new jobs are to be created at Jaguar Land Rover's Halewood plant as production of the Land Rover Discovery Sport prepares to get underway.
Sales of the model are due to begin next year, and JLR has announced an extra 250 jobs will be created at its Halewood site to meet the extra demand. The extra jobs will swell the Halewood workforce to around 4,750 people, while the site will also get around £200 million (Rs 2,034 crore) of new investment to support production of the new model.
The site recently fitted a new 'servo' stamping line, the first of its kind in the UK, at a cost of £45 million (Rs 457 crore). The press is able to handle more weight and work at higher speeds than traditional presses.
The Halewood site already makes the Range Rover Evoque and Freelander 2 models. Production of the Freelander will stop towards the end of this year, making way for the Discovery Sport.
Recently spotted testing at the Nurburgring in Germany, development on the Discovery Sport is now well into its final stages. The first model to appear from the new extended Discovery family, the Sport will be powered by JLR's range of Ingenium diesel engines, with petrol versions arriving by mid-2015.