Vauxhall celebrates four millionth British-built Astra

Vauxhall is marking a major milestone at its Ellesmere Port plant where the four millionth Briitsh-built Astra has rolled off the production line.

The Cheshire manufacturing base has been making the popular family car since 1981 and Vaxuhall marked the occassion with a choreographed display of 236 Astra Sport Tourers to spell out the feat.

The celebratory image, which took 12-hours, 57 red and 179 white cars to assemble, spelled out the achievement in Astra’s trademark red.

Ellesmere Port has produced all seven generations of the famous Astra, exporting more than two million vehicles to 25 European markets and even Australia in the early years. Today nearly 80% of the Astra produced at the plant head overseas.

10 things you didn’t know about the Vauxhall Astra

1. The Vauxhall Astra replaced the Viva and was the first Vauxhall model with front wheel drive
2. One in four Brits has owned or driven an Astra
3. The height of four million Astras is the equivalent to 62,500 Big Bens
4. Collectively we’ve driven 216 billion miles in Astras – that’s enough to drive to the sun and back 1, 161 times
5. The length of four million Astras would take you to China and back
6. The name of the Vauxhall Astra derives from the Latin Astralis meaning the stars
7. The Astra has always been a popular police patrol car – the Mk6 model was used by 54 different constabularies
8. Multi-award winning, the Astra most recently won European Car of the Year in 2016
9. Not just Brit-built, the current Astra was designed by a team led by Brits Mark Adams and Malcolm Ward
10. The Astra became the fourth ‘Reasonably Priced Car’ on BBC Top Gear and driven by Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Olly Murs, Aaron Paul and Warwick Davis

Ellesmere Port employs nearly 2,000 people and many more depend on it in the supply chain as it builds approximately 680 Astras a day.