A new 3.6-litre V8 engine is now being produced at Ford's Dagenham diesel centre.

More than £12.2 million has been invested in the development and manufacture of the new V8, bringing the total spent at Dagenham to £644.2 million since it became Ford's centre of excellence for diesel.

It was opened by the Prime Minister in 2003 and a total of 2,350 engineers and production operators will make up to 700,000 engines this year. From next year, Dagenham will also assemble 1.4 and 1.6 diesel engines, taking the site's production beyond a million units a year. Ford is hoping to eventually produce volumes of up to 25,000 V8 units a year.