11:50am Tuesday 13th July 2010
By Gareth Lewis
FORD workers in Southampton are today celebrating after ministers backed the motor giant’s £1.5 billion-investment plan that secures jobs building the next generation of “green” vehicles.
It is the best news on the plant’s future in years after a succession of body blows, including a cull of 500 jobs - around half the workforce.
A Ford spokesman said the Swaythling van plant would “directly benefit” from the investment, adding “it clearly helps to secure jobs in the UK as a whole and in Southampton.”
Blue Oval bosses are pumping cash into the future generation of green engines and new technology that will one-day be used in its Transit and Chassis Cabs currently being made in Southampton.
Although it is too soon to say how much of the money will be spent in the city, significant parts of the factory will need to be “upgraded” in order to build vans filled with the new environmentally friendly technology.
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