Automotive giant Ford has revealed plans to invest a further £125m at its Halewood factory in a move that will secure 500 jobs.
The company said the site is "integral" to its European electrification plans which will see it only sell zero-emission cars from 2030 and all vehicles by 2035.
The extra funding will be put towards increasing Halewood's annual production of electric power units by 70% to 420,000.
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They will power Ford E-Transit Custom, E-Tourneo Custom, Transit Courier, Tourneo Courier, Puma and further future vehicles.
Ford said it will invest £125m directly at the Halewood plant while a further £24m will be used to support its new E:PRiME (Electrified Powertrain in Manufacturing Engineering) development centre in Dunton, Essex.
The news comes after Ford announced a £230m investment to deliver 250,000 power units a year for electric vehicles from 2024 at the Halewood site.
Kieran Cahill, Ford’s European industrial operations vice-president, said: "Ford is a global American brand, woven into the fabric of Europe for more than 100 years and a major employer here at Halewood for almost 60 years.
"Our vision in Europe is to build a thriving business, by extending leadership in commercial vehicles and through the electrification of our car range.
"Halewood is playing a critical part as our first in-house investment in EV component manufacturing in Europe."
Tim Slatter, chairman of Ford UK, added: "This is an all-important next step for Ford towards having nine EVs on sale within two years.
"Our UK workforce is playing a major role in Ford’s all-electric future, demonstrated by Halewood’s pivot to a new zero-emission powertrain, and E:PRiME’s innovation at Dunton in finalising the production processes."
Ford’s E:PRiME centre is building prototypes of the electric power unit and training Halewood employees in its machining and assembly.
The power unit, comprising edrive motor and gearbox, replaces the engine and transmission of a conventional engine vehicle by propelling an EV using battery energy.
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