Factory history
JLR's Halewood plant near Liverpool started life as a Ford factory, where 9000 people were employed to build Anglias and later, Corsairs. By 1960, Ford decided an additional UK factory was required, and Halewood was suggested by the British government. The first Anglia left the £30 million factory in March 1963, with the Corsair joining it in 1964. The Anglia was replaced by the Escort in 1967, which stayed at Halewood through five revisions until 2000. The Ford Escort had been replaced in 1998 by the German-built Focus, and the plant was rumoured to be closed when the Escort was discontinued. However, Ford at the time owned Jaguar cars, and it was decided to build Jaguar's new compact executive car, the X-Type (X400), at Halewood. Ford also owned Land Rover, who started building Freelander 2 at the plant from 2007. Jaguar and Land Rover were sold in 2008 to Tata Motors, and are now known as JLR. Jaguar X-Type production ended in 2009 and the car was not replaced. In July 2010, Land Rover suggested the new Range Rover Evoque model would be produced at the Halewood factory.
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