Ford to build electric power units at Halewood in £230m deal

Ford will invest up to £230 million at its Halewood vehicle transmission facility, the company has announced today.

The car manufacturer intends to transform Halewood to build electric power units for future Ford all-electric passenger and commercial vehicles sold in Europe.

Power unit production in Halewood is expected to begin in mid-2024. Production capacity is planned to be around 250,000 units a year. The investment – which is subject to and includes UK government support through its Automotive Transformation Fund – will help safeguard the Ford jobs at Halewood.

Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe, commented: “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 percent 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.”

“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.”

The power unit is the complete all-electric assembly that replaces the engine and transmission in a conventional petrol or diesel engine vehicle.

The Ford Halewood transmission facility was chosen to supply the power units given its excellent record on quality, competitiveness and the strong skills base and commitment of the employees.

Halewood currently builds transmissions for a number of Ford passenger and commercial vehicles and exports 100 percent of its production. Before being taken back completely into Ford ownership earlier this year, Halewood had been part of Getrag Ford Transmissions, the transmission manufacturing joint venture co-owned by Ford and Magna, for more than 20 years.

Ford is one of the UK’s largest exporters, exporting engines and transmissions from its facilities to more than 15 countries on six continents, with overseas sales generating around £2.5 billion annually.

Ford
www.ford.com