Britain's ailing car production industry received a big shot in the arm on Thursday as Nissan Motor Co., McLaren Automotive Ltd. and Spyker Cars N.V. all announced plans to build new models and Ford Motor Co. received a government grant to develop engines.
The investments of more than 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion), including a new electric car, a high-end sports car and environmentally friendly engines, will safeguard thousands of British jobs and create hundreds more.
Financial support from the British government was a critical factor in the green investment pledges from Nissan and Ford, a likely vote winner in a looming national election that is expected to be a close-run affair.
The developments won immediate support from union leaders who have been warning the government for months that Britain's manufacturing sector _ particularly car making _ would not survive the recent recession without help.
Total car production slumped 31 percent last year to just under a million _ less than half the output of the industry's heyday in the 1970s. Many of Britain's remaining car plants lay idle as manufacturers took the opportunity to cut their costs by extending the Christmas shutdowns well into the new year.
"This is a huge vote of confidence for British manufacturing," said Derek Simpson, joint leader of the Unite union, on Thursday. "It secures thousands of skilled jobs and puts Britain at the heart of a greener future for the automotive industry."
McLaren, the Formula One specialist that is leaping into commercial car production by building a 40-million pound production facility south of London, said the timing was right for a resurgence in British manufacturing.
"At a time when the U.K. is rebalancing the economy away from the past two decades' over-concentration on financial services, we stand alongside other high-tech manufacturing and engineering companies, committed to securing Britain's global leadership, and securing a sustainable economic future," said McLaren Automotive Chairman Ron Dennis said at the company's headquarters _ and new factory site _ in Woking.
Among the flurry of announcements, Nissan confirmed it would manufacturer its new Leaf electric car at its plant in Sunderland, northeast England, making Britain its third global manufacturing location after Japan and the United States.
Plans to produce around 50,000 Leafs a year beginning in 2013 and 60,000 lithium-ion batteries are expected to safeguard more than 2,000 jobs across the supply chain.
Ford is investing 1.5 billion pounds over the next five years into the research and development of a new generation of environmentally friendly engines and vehicle technologies at four of British sites _ protecting 2,800 jobs.
The Nissan project is receiving 20.7 million pounds from the British government and another 197 million pounds from the European Investment Bank. Ford is benefiting from 360 million pounds in government loan guarantees, while a proposed 450 million pound loan is being considered by the EIB.
"The automotive sector is of key importance to the U.K.," said Business Secretary Lord Mandelson. "It supports research and development, technological innovation, skills and a supply chain that's a mainstay of the wider manufacturing sector."
At the luxury end of the car market, Spyker Cars N.V., the specialist Dutch automaker which recently bought Saab, said it was switching production of its Aileron model to Coventry in the English Midlands.
McLaren Automotive, owner of the second most-successful Formula One racing team after Ferrari, plans to begin production of its new MP4-12C sports car in spring 2011.
Funding for initial production has come from McLaren's existing shareholders and it is in final negotiations with an investor to buy a 48 percent stake of the company to fund future production.
"It's not just about the MP4-12C, it's about developing a whole new car company that will deliver technically advanced products," Chairman Ron Dennis told reporters today at the site. "It's good news for McLaren and I believe it's good news for U.K. PLC."
There was also good news in statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, showing a 65 percent rise in car production last month, compared to a year ago.
But analysts note that the figures were boosted by a government-supported program of discounts for buyers who trade in cars more than 10 years old. That program ends this month.
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