By now, it's no surprise that the new Range Rover Evoque compact-luxury SUV has been a big contributor to parent Tata Motors' success, having helped it earn record profits last quarter. The company at that time said it would start running its Halewood, England, plant on a three-shift, 24-hour schedule. Starting today, Halewood is officially running around the clock.
The Halewood plant now employs 4500 workers, triple the size of the plant's workforce of three years ago and the largest workforce the plant has had in 20 years. In addition to the wildly popular Evoque, the plant also produces the Freelander 2, sold in the U.S. as the LR2. More than 75 percent of the plant's output is exported to markets outside the U.K.
For the 1000 new openings as part of the three-shift operation, the plant received more than 30,000 applications. With this latest expansion, Jaguar Land Rover is the largest automotive employer in the U.K, with a total of nearly 24,000 employees.
Source: Jaguar Land Rover