Mike Humble / SMMT

Vauxhall is celebrating 50 years of manufacturing at its Ellesmere Port site in Cheshire. The site, which produces more than 70,000 Vauxhall Astras a year, started manufacturing the Vauxhall Viva on 1 June 1964. Production of the Viva ran at Ellesmere Port until 1978 when it was replaced by the Chevette.

Despite the Luton assembley plant closing to passenger car production well over a decade ago, the facility has continued producing cars benefitting from regular investment and quality matches if not betters any of the other global GM operations for car production.

In 1981, production of the first-generation Astra began at Ellesmere Port and, in the following four decades, the facility has become synonymous with Vauxhall’s best-selling model.

Following an announcement of £125 million investment in 2012, production of the next generation Vauxhall Astra will start at Ellesmere Port in 2015, securing the plant’s future well into the 2020s.

Many Happy Returns!