Ford will make a huge investment in its UK manufacturing presence, transforming its Halewood plant into a dedicated electric powertrain production facility by 2024.
The company will invest £230 million into the Merseyside site, where 500 workers currently build gearboxes for the Focus and Fiesta. Some £25m of the funding comes from the government's Automotive Transmission Fund (ATF), which is also part-funding the expansion of Nissan's EV battery plant in Sunderland and the transformation of Stellantis' Ellesmere Port facility.
Ford's ambitious electrification goals mean its European passenger car fleet will go all-electric by 2030, with the Halewood site lined up to eventually have a capacity of 250,000 units per year for export to vehicle production sites across Europe - as reported by the Financial Times.
The company is investing more than £700 million in turning its Cologne factory - where the Fiesta is currently built - into a dedicated 'Electrification Centre', but it has yet to officially detail plans for other major facilities, including Saarlouis (where the Focus is built) and the engine production plant in Dagenham, Essex.
Ford and battery production partner SK Innovation will soon announce the location of their first European-based 'gigafactory', and the FT quotes Ford of Europe CEO Stuart Rowley as saying the UK is "always a candidate".
Only six months ago, Ford safeguarded around 700 jobs at the Halewood plant by ending its 50/50 joint venture with Magna PT (previously Getrag) and taking full control of the facility – as well as a similarly joint-operated site at its European HQ in Cologne.
Plans for Ford to maintain a presence at Halewood were hinted at by plant manager Andy Roche in March, when he said: "We are convinced now with Ford coming in to buy us that they've got plans for us. They took us for a purpose and will want to invest. They’re not going to buy us to shut it down. We see this as a protection of jobs.
"So any new jobs that they create, they will be Ford employees, which is fantastic. It's fantastic to be associated with a world-renowned company."
Ford's move is the latest in a line of positive news stories for the UK automotive sector. Nissan recently confirmed plans to build a battery factory and a new electric crossover at its Sunderland plant, Jaguar Land Rover vowed to keep its UK sites open as it shifts to electrification and Stellantis safeguarded the future of its Ellesmere Port factory by adapting it to build electric vans.
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Yep, negative comments rule, anyone for Fishing?, this Country needs investment, jobs, to get back on its feet and drag itself back to the top of production, i think the trouble is, there is still a lot of unemployment and some of that's down to expectations ,thinking that the job isn't paying enough,and in this current era of Brexit and a pandemic, a pan which is crippling 90% of the Planets economy, maybe doing a job for a bit less, having a staycation,tightening our belts would help, Ford are going to invest, and if it's good, who knows what might happen, might encourage others global businesses to invest here in the UK.
Ford's move is the latest in a line of positive news stories for the UK automotive sector.
Well that's one sentance which should upset a few of the regular commentators on here. Wonder who'll be first of them to find a negative and spell doom and gloom.
Do you have evidence of that. I suspect it is a shakedown of the Government to retain some jobs but don't have evidence. The Mach-E will be produced in China on a second production line alongside Mexico. The next European car is an MEB based car. I just don't see where there will be volume for this plant.
Ah, I see.
"Ford said the investment is subject to, and includes, Government support through its Automotive Transformation Fund."
Not only do you have to bribe multi-nationals to set up factories in the country, you have to bribe them to keep them open and invest in them further
So how come we went from an economy naturally attractive to investors due to its profitability, skilled labour at decent cost and high level of innovation & research, to an economy that borrows money at a rate never seen before, to bribe foreign companies to keep the labour employed? Please explain, brexiteers, how is this a success?
Good news if Ford to invest in Halewood and give it a future
I wonder if Ford look back at how they used to dominate UK sales and make massive profits here, and wonder what went wrong.