Land Rover Rolls Out its First Discovery Sport

The first production model of Discovery Sport has finally rolled out from Land Rover’s Halewood manufacturing plant in UK. The first model will make its way to Virgin Galactic’s headquarters where it will support operations at Virgin Galactic. 

The Discovery Sport from Land Rover is the first SUV from new Discovery family and will replace the Freelander2. It offers a seating arrangement for 5+2 passengers. The first vehicle was received by Land Rover Virgin Galactic’s Stephen Attenborough, Commercial Director. The vehicle at Virgin Galactic will be used by the aerospace company to support its UK operation in creating world’s first commercial spaceline. 

Murray Dietsch, Director of Land Rover Programmes said,“It fills me with pride to have seen the first new Discovery Sport coming off the line here at our world-class Halewood production facility. We are now even more excited to hand the keys over to the crew at Virgin Galactic. The new car embodies Land Rover’s spirit of Above and Beyond, so it’s fitting that it will be used by a similarly pioneering company in Virgin Galactic.”

Discovery Sport offers a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol and 2.2-litre diesel engine options, with nine-speed automatic transmission and standard all-wheel drive.

The Halewood plant where the first Discovery Sport is manufactured gives employment to 4750 people. The latest model from the Indian conglomerate Tata also creates 250 new jobs in manufacturing with a fresh investment of  £200mn. 

Richard Else, Jaguar Land Rover Halewood Operations Director said: “Today marks another incredibly proud moment for the Halewood plant, its workforce and the region as a whole. He further added, “The decision to build the Land Rover Discovery Sport here at Halewood is a testament to our tremendous team who are committed to delivering outstanding customer quality as demonstrated by the award winning Range Rover Evoque. Investment in the plant since 2011 now stands at £500mn and has most recently been demonstrated with the installation of a £45mn state-of-the-art Aida servo press line which provided the backdrop to today’s event.”