Ford Motor Company has committed a further £149 million into making the UK its European hub for electric vehicle (EV) drivetrain production – safeguarding 500 highly skilled jobs.

Production targets have been increased the predicted production of EV motors and gearboxes at Merseyside’s Halewood manufacturing plant from 250,000 to 420,000 with the help of a further £125m in funding while the E:PRiME product development centre at Dunton receives an additional £24m.

The funding takes the total investment in EV component production in the UK to £380m to date.

The US OEM giant plans to transition to zero-emission car sales by 2030, followed by all vehicles including vans by 2035, and expects 70% of its European EVs to feature drivetrains built in the UK.

Earlier this year it revealed that it would grow its planned global EV production run rate from 600,000 units next year to two million by 2026