Land Rover has created 250 new jobs at the Halewood plant, where £500 million has been invested in the past five years.

The Halewood plant has been chosen as the production facility for the upcoming Land Rover Discovery Sport and is the current home of production for Freelander and Range Rover Evoque.

Richard Else, Jaguar Land Rover Halewood Operations Director, said: “I am delighted to be welcoming the new Land Rover Discovery Sport to Halewood. Its arrival has been a further boost to the region and to our committed and loyal workforce who are all passionate ambassadors for this great company.

“In many ways, Halewood has embodied the transformation of Jaguar Land Rover. We have seen our work force treble and production quadruple in just four years. Today we are operating three shifts, 24-hours a day to meet global demand and I am confident that the team will rise to the challenge and deliver a flawless launch of this exciting new model.”

Since its launch in 2011 more than 200,000 Range Rover Evoques have been produced at the Halewood plant. Its success, along with all the additional investment and the Discovery Sport announcement, has contributed to the Halewood workforce trebling in size to more than 4750 since 2010.