Swindon MPs Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland have welcomed news that Swindon is set to benefit from BMW’s £600 million electric vehicle investment.
The investment will support BMW Mini’s Oxford plant and Swindon’s pressing plant deliver its future electric vehicle production.
BMW approached the Government for £75 million in grant support through the Exceptional Regional Growth Fund, which was recently approved in the House of Commons.
This subsidy will support the transition of the plant to the production of next-generation electric vehicles, chiefly in the form of funding for capital investment in new tooling, machinery and re-training/upskilling of employees in the sector.
BMW have said this new era of electric vehicle manufacturing has been brought about by UK government support against BMW’s total investment of £600 million, supporting around 4,000 jobs across their Oxford and Swindon sites into the next decade.
The latest investment follows follows investments from Amazon and Panattoni, totalling around £1.1 billion pounds.
Justin Tomlinson MP and Robert Buckland MP said:
“This investment will create a brighter future for Swindon and Oxford, including through supporting well paid, high skill jobs, as we stick to the plan to grow the economy whilst spreading opportunity
By backing British manufacturers across the country we can create the high skilled jobs of the future and reaffirm the UK as a world leader in manufacturing. That is why we are investing £360 million into research and development including £200 million in zero–carbon aircraft technology and £73 million in automotive technology.
World leading manufacturers including Airbus and BMW are continuing to invest in Britain and we are the third economy globally to have a trillion-pound tech sector - showing our plan is working.”
