Today Vauxhall celebrated the official start of Astra Sports Tourer production at its plant in Ellesmere Port

Today Vauxhall and sister company Opel celebrated the official start of Astra Sports Tourer production at its plant in Ellesmere Port.

The first vehicle to roll off the production line in Cheshire was an Elite 1.6CDTi, in Flip Chip Silver.

Jubilant plant workers were joined by Peter Thom, General Motors’ Vice President Global Manufacturing and Stefan Fesser, Ellesmere Port Plant Director. Thom was visiting to hand over the 2015 Winner for Safety award, won by the plant. Fesser also collected 2015 Winner for Vauxhall/Opel Astra Hatchback Launch awarded by Jim Deluca, Executive Vice President and Thom. Thanks to the outstanding attitude and work ethic of the employees, the plant beat world-class competition from across Europe to build the new car.

The Ellesmere Port Plant is a significant contributor to the local and national economies building over five million vehicles since 1964. The factory is a major exporter with 52 per cent of production going to 25 European markets. At full production it is estimated the plant will build around 680 cars per day and 120,000 per year.

UK firms, including those in manufacturing, utilities, construction, transportation and storage, benefit from almost £70 million gross value added and 800 jobs that result directly from Vauxhall’s investment in Ellesmere Port.