This Monday, Ford announced a plan to increase the electrification of their sales in Europe. Ford’s vehicle transmission facility at Halewood on Meyerside will be turned into an electric power unit facility, and Ford intends to invest up to £230 million in transforming the site.
Ford is one of the largest exporters in the United Kingdom, sending engines and transmissions out to over 15 different countries around the world. These overseas sales generate around £2.5 billion annually.
The Halewood facility currently manufactures transmissions for mainly passenger and commercial Ford vehicles, and exports all of its production. Ford took sole ownership of the facility earlier this year; prior to this it had been a part of Getrag Ford Transmissions, a joint manufacturing venture which Ford and Magna co-owned for more than 20 years. The facility at Halewood has an excellent quality record, and the technicians employed there have a very strong skill base and commitment. This made the facility the ideal choice to make the power units of Ford’s future electric vehicles. Production is expected to begin in 2024 with production capacity intended to be around 250,000 units per year. The investment has received U.K government support through the Automotive Transformation Fund and will help to preserve jobs at the Halewood facility.
“Ford’s decision to build its first electric vehicle components in Europe at its Halewood site is further proof that the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for high-quality automotive manufacturing,” said the Rt. Hon. Kwasi Kwarteng MP, business secretary of the UK Government. “In this highly competitive, global race to secure electric vehicle manufacturing, our priority is to ensure the UK reaps the benefits.”
This is not Ford’s only recent announcement regarding electrification in Europe. There is also a new $1 billion investment to update the vehicle assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, which is one of Ford’s largest European manufacturing centers and the home base for Ford of Europe. The investment will transform the plant into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center, and it will be Ford’s first electric facility in Europe, expected to be operational in 2023.
Earlier this year, Ford also announced that Ford Otosan, Ford’s joint venture in Turkey, will not only be building the all-electric E-Transit but will be producing an all-electric version of the next-generation Transit Custom in Kocaeli, Turkey. A new light commercial Ford vehicle being built in Craiova, Romania, also will include an all-electric version for the coming model years.
Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe, said about the Halewood investment, “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.”