Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port factory – opened in 1964 to build the HA Viva – has built its five millionth car, an Astra.
The factory employs 1,800 building a new car every two minutes and is gearing up for the redesigned Astra which goes into production in 2015.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
It will be the lead manufacturing plant in Europe for the new model and will hire an additional 300 staff next month as part of a GBP140m (US$219.2m) spend by General Motors which will secure the plant’s future into the middle of next decade.
The HA Viva line was followed by the HB and HC models until 1979, the Chevette from 1975 to 1981 and all six Astra models from 1982. An average of 100,000 units has left the plant in each of the last 50 years.
Ellesmere Port now builds Astra five-door hatchback and Sports Tourer (wagon) models badged as Vauxhalls for the UK and Opel for export, which accounts for 76% of production. Three-door hatchbacks are built in Poland and additional five-door hatches in Germany.
‘Ellesmere Pete’ the quality controller
