THE future of Ford Dunton has been secured after £190million of further investment was announced.

The huge sum, which includes £8.9million from the Government, will fund the production of new low-carbon diesel engines for cars and vans.

About 3,500 engineers who work at Ford Dunton, off the A127, are celebrating as the major boost means their jobs are safe.

A total of 318 new roles are set to be created at Ford’s sister site in Dagenham.

The announcement comes six months after Business Secretary Vince Cable visited Dunton to welcome the first phase of the project, which has seen state-of-the-art two litre engines created for commercial vehicles around the world.

The latest phase, which is due to start in 2017, relates to passenger cars, and brings the total amount of investment to more than £475million.

Mr Cable said: “From pencil line to production line, these engines will be fully designed and built in the UK.

“This latest investment by Ford, supported by £8.9 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, is testament to the strength of our automotive sector and demonstrates Ford’s ongoing commitment to the UK.”

Prime Minister, David Cameron, added: “I welcome Ford’s commitment, which is a vote of confidence in our longterm economic plan to back business, create more jobs and secure a brighter future for Britain.”

The commercial vehicle engines, which have been developed and designed at both Dagenham and Dunton, are set to come off the production line at the end of the year and will be installed in vans from 2016.

Ford Dunton is the UK’s largest research and development facility of its kind.

Construction started at the site, near Basildon, in 1965 and it opened two years later.

The engineering team work on future vehicles, as well as engines and transmissions for all new Ford cars and vans.

Stephen Odell, vice-president of Ford, said: “The overall investment of over £475million, supported by the UK Government, underlines Ford’s commitment to the UK.

“This all-new, state-of-theart, low carbon diesel engine has not only been designed and developed here, it will be manufactured by Ford in the UK too. It will be great for the UK as these engines will be exported to markets around the world.”