Aston Martin Lagonda’s second UK manufacturing plant has started to produce pre-production models of the Aston Martin DBX — the luxury car maker’s first SUV.

The 90-acre former MoD site at St Athan in Wales was announced as the company’s second UK plant in early 2016; since then, the whole site — including three ‘Super Hangars’ — has been transformed into a modern manufacturing facility for its hand-crafted British cars.

This has created 200 jobs so far and is expected to create up to 550 more. As a direct result of this investment, another 3,000 jobs could be created in the supply chain.

St Athan will be the sole production facility for the Aston Martin DBX, which will be formally launched at the end of 2019.

Last year, the new facility was also named as Aston Martin Lagonda’s ‘home of electrification’ and the manufacturing site for the Lagonda brand. Real-world testing of the DBX, which began in the Welsh countryside last year, continues apace.

Over the last few months, the car has been put through its paces in environments ranging from the Arctic Circle to the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany.

Andy Palmer, Aston Martin Lagonda CEO (www.astonmartinlagonda.com), said: “This is an exciting time for Aston Martin Lagonda.

"Our second manufacturing facility is now producing cars and is ready to go into full production in 2020.

"Our facilities and manufacturing teams — led by chief manufacturing operations officer Keith Stanton — have done an outstanding job in getting the factory ready almost a year before full production starts, on time and on budget.”