Astra Sports Tourer Popularity Pushes Vauxhall Ellesmere Port To Record Line Rates And Production Heights

LUTON, UNITED KINGDOM – Jan 20, 2012: High demand for the Astra Sports Tourer helped Vauxhall Ellesmere Port to record line rates of 47 units per hour since July 2011. Thus, the plant assembled a total of 139,528 vehicles in two shifts in 2011 of which 129,648 fell into the Sports Tourer’s arena during its first full year of production.

91% of Sports Tourers were bound for export to mainland Europe and beyond with a particularly strong uptake in Germany where 50,153 Sports Tourers where sold in 2011 – Germany having historically a very strong demand for estates.

Vauxhall’s Astra Sports Tourer is renowned for its practicality and vast loadspace whilst offering a stylish look and feel as well as great value to retail and fleet customers alike. In the UK, the Sports Tourer came consistently first in its segment in the sales charts.

Plant Director Tony Francavilla says: "We are proud of Ellesmere Port's outstanding results building cars and vans to great quality standards whilst satisfying high customer demand. I am very thankful for our workforce's continuous dedication and we are all looking forward to another successful year."