The Automotive Academy has officially launched its North West spoke.

Covering an area from Carlisle to Crewe, the newest Academy spoke will be hosted by the Northwest Automotive Alliance (NAA) in Leyland, Lancashire.

The region is home to the second highest regional representation of automotive companies.

Automotive companies in the region support an annual turnover of £9 billion, employing 43,000 people.

The launch event was attended by more than 140 industry guests at the Partnership for Learning centre next to Jaguar's manufacturing plant at Halewood, and was hosted by rally champion and racing presenter Penny Mallory.

Automotive Academy chairman, and chief executive of Jaguar and Land Rover, Joe Greenwell was joined by Dr Alan Begg, Automotive Academy chief executive, Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency and Stuart Heys of Leyland Trucks and chairman of the NAA.