Celebrating 36 years of the British Built Vauxhall Astra

The Vauhall Astra might not be as glamorous some British built cars, namely those produced by Jaguar, Morgan or Bentley, but it is perhaps no less a British icon. This year the lowly Astra, the car of the people, is celebrating an important milestone – the launch of it’s 7th incarnation. In real terms this means more than 36 years of continuous production in UK and that must be worth celebrating. At least, that is what Vauxhall thought…. so they made this rather inspiring video:

This new Astra is the 11th major model-line to be built at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and guarantees 2,000 jobs at the plant over the next decade. The plant secured a long-term contract in 2012 and a £140m investment which further demonstrates the brand’s continued commitment to manufacturing the car in Britain.  It is estimated that at full production in 2016, the plant will build around 680 Astras per day with further growth in subsequent years.

The British success story extends beyond the Astra itself – as for more than half a century, Ellesmere Port has been the manufacturing home of every compact class Vauxhall in the UK. With nearly 25% of parts sourced locally from UK suppliers, the plant is a significant contributor the local economy and the continued investment at the facility is set to boost UK manufacturing, utilities, construction, transportation and storage companies by at least £70m.