Halewood’s Merseyside transmission plant is preparing to double the number of transmissions built for the Ford Transit, thanks to a new £8 million investment.

Ford and Getrag Ford Transmissions, joint owners of the Merseyside plant, said the cash injection will will produce 130,000 of the MT82 six-speed gearbox for Ford Motor Company rear-wheel-drive vehicles by mid-2007.

Production is scheduled to reach 65,000 units a year by the middle of 2006.

In September Halewood Transmission was named Best Engineering Plant in Britain by Cranfield University and Works Management magazine. The plant employs 730 people turning out a total of 500,000 transmissions a year. Halewood's other products are fitted to Ford Transit, Fiesta and Fusion models.