Ford has announced an additional investment of £190m at its Dagenham facility to produce a range of new 2.0-litre diesel engines for cars and commercial vehicles.
The development, which includes an £8.9m contribution from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, will result in the creation of 318 new jobs related to the investment.
Today's announcement is the second part of a two-stage investment in the new engine programme. The original investment of £287m relates to the production of the engine that will find its way into Ford commercial vehicles around the globe.
The first of these engines will come off the line at the east London plant towards the end of next year. Production capacity will be up to 350,000 units per year and the first units will be powering Ford's vans in 2016.
Ford says the new engine will deliver dramatically lower Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions and satisfy the air quality requirements of the proposed Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) that could come into force in London in 2020.
The new tranche of funding relates to the engine for passenger cars. Production is scheduled to start in 2017 – ramping up to a capacity of 150,000 units per year – with the first installation in Ford cars planned for 2018.
The new diesel engines have been designed and developed at Ford Dagenham and at the Ford Dunton Technical Centre in Essex.
Stephen Odell, Ford Executive Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “Ford is delighted to announce this next phase of investment at Dagenham. The overall investment of over £475 million, supported by the UK Government, underlines Ford’s commitment to the UK.
"This all-new, state-of-the-art, low carbon diesel engine has not only been designed and developed here, but it will be manufactured by Ford in the UK too. And it will be great for UK plc as these engines will be exported to markets around the world.”
Ford produces engines at two locations in the UK – petrol engines from Ford Bridgend in Wales and diesel engines at Ford Dagenham. Total production from the two plants exceeded 1.5 million powerplants in 2013.
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