Jaguar Land Rover celebrates 1 000 000 vehicles built at Halewood

Jaguar Land Rover celebrated the production of the millionth Jaguar Land Rover vehicle at its Halewood advanced manufacturing facility, near Liverpool earlier this week. The 1 000 000 vehicle is a unique Range Rover Evoque, painted in a special one-off colour combination and will be donated to Cancer Research UK. Global demand for Range Rover Evoque has exceeded expectations with 18 000 advanced orders before job 1 on 4 July 2011. With continued demand for Evoque and growing sales of Land Rover Freelander 2, this production milestone was achieved earlier than predicted. Production volume at Halewood has increased significantly over the past 12 months due to 24 hour working, bringing the arrival of the 1 000 000 vehicle ahead of original forecasts. Between 2001 and 2009, 363 603 Jaguar X-Type and X-Type Estates were manufactured at Halewood. The Jaguar X-Type was Jaguar's best-selling model during much of its production run and was Jaguar's first compact executive car for 50 years. In 2002, the Jaguar X-Type Diesel 2.0 was launched and made history for the company as Jaguar's first ever diesel model. Also in 2002 the Jaguar X-Type Estate was launched, again making history as Jaguar's first ever estate vehicle. In 2003 the X-Type achieved best in class Paint Appearance in the JD Power US survey, a hotly contended and sought after prize, which was retained in 2004 and again in 2006. In 2005 Halewood celebrated another significant manufacturing award, this time with the JD Power European Gold Plant Award in Recognition of X-Type's excellent quality. In 2006 the 2.2 Diesel was launched and in December 2009 the last Jaguar X-Type drove off the line at Halewood. In 2005 manufacturing preparation works commenced, following significant investment by Land Rover, for the production of the all new Land Rover Freelander 2. On 25 October 2006 the Land Rover Freelander 2 Job 1 drove off the production line and was welcomed into the world by Premier League footballers from Liverpool Football Club. In May 2012 Halewood celebrated the 300,000 production milestone. The global demand for Freelander 2 continues today and it has been one of Land Rover's most popular models with 381 211 being manufactured to date. In July 2011 Halewood, and the world, welcomed the arrival of the Range Rover Evoque. The smallest, most efficient production Range Rover ever made. When the Evoque started life it had already generated an exceptional market response with more than 18 000 advance orders from customers worldwide. Waiting lists for the car peaked at 12 months for some markets during the second half of 2011. As a result of this demand, Halewood Operations moved to 24 hour production for the first time in its 50 year history. The Evoque has received over 130 global awards and is the biggest selling Jaguar Land Rover vehicle, breaking Jaguar Land Rover production volume records in both of its first two years of production. Halewood has manufactured 255 186 to date. - Quickpic.co.za