Ford is investing £230m (€272.5m) to transform its Halewood, Merseyside site into a components plant for its future electric vehicles.

Halewood will become Ford’s first EV component in-house assembly site in Europe; production will begin mid-2024

The announcement, which safeguards the future of Halewood and will help secure about 500 jobs, will see it become the carmaker’s first electric vehicle component in-house assembly site in Europe. Production will begin mid-2024 and the site will build around 250,000 electric power units a year.

The commitment advances Ford’s pledge to go all-electric for passenger cars in Europe by 2030.

Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe, said: “This is an important step, marking Ford’s first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe. It strengthens further our ability to deliver 100% of Ford passenger vehicles in Europe being all-electric and two-thirds of our commercial vehicle sales being all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.”

Ford has already spearheaded its plans to go fully electric with a $1bn (€860m / £730m) investment in a new electric vehicle manufacturing centre in Cologne – its first European-built, volume all-electric passenger vehicle for European customers is planned to roll off the lines in Cologne starting in 2023, with the potential for a second all-electric vehicle to be built there.

Halewood currently builds transmissions for a number of Ford passenger and commercial vehicles and exports 100% of its production. The site was previously operated as a 50/50 JV with Germany company Magna PT, before being taken back completely into Ford ownership earlier this year.

The investment in Halewood includes support from the Government through its Automotive Transformation Fund.

Rowley continued: “We also want to thank the UK government for its support for this important investment at Halewood which reconfirms Ford’s continuing commitment to the UK and our position as a leading investor in this country’s auto industry and technological base.”

Ford’s investment comes on the back of other recent OEM commitments to EV production in the UK.

Vauxhall parent firm Stellantis announced in July 2021 that it’s investing £100m to turn Ellesmere Port into its first dedicated electric vehicle manufacturing site, safeguarding the plant’s future.

And Nissan revealed in the same month that it is to transform its Sunderland plant into a flagship Electric Vehicle Hub that will build its new-generation electric crossover and encompass a new gigafactory, under a £1bn scheme supported by the same government fund scheme as Halewood.

UK business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said Ford’s decision to build its first electric vehicle components in Europe at its Halewood site was “further proof that the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for high-quality automotive manufacturing.”

He added: “In this highly competitive, global race to secure electric vehicle manufacturing, our priority is to ensure the UK reaps the benefits.”

Ford also announced earlier this year that in addition to building the all-electric E-Transit from 2022, Ford Otosan – Ford’s joint venture in Turkey – will produce an all-electric version of the next-generation Transit Custom from 2023 at its manufacturing facility in Kocaeli, Turkey. A new light commercial vehicle being built by Ford’s vehicle assembly operations in Craiova, Romania, also will include an all-electric derivative from 2024.