FORD is to invest £1 billion in its UK research and development centres in a bid to reduce the impact of its cars on the environment.

The move, announced on the eve of the British International Motor Show in London, will see Ford’s four UK engineering centres – Dagenham and Dunton in Essex and Whitley and Gaydon in the Midlands – researching ways of improving the efficiency of its existing petrol and diesel engines by using direct injection technology as well as investigating the use of materials such as aluminium to reduce the weight of cars.

The centres will work alongside the new Ford department in Sweden, which will develop hybrid powertrains for its European models and also vehicles from the Premier Automotive Group (Jaguar, Land Rover and Mazda).

The £1 billion investment, a sizeable chunk of Ford’s global £4.5 billion a year R&D spend, will be spread over the next five years. Ford is promising it will result in more than 100 vehicles which offer emissions or fuel economy improvements, including a Ford Focus capable of returning in excess of 70mpg and emitting less than 100g/km of CO2.

Lewis Booth, Ford of Europe chief executive officer, said: ‘We are not going to introduce just one or two high-profile green cars which sell in relatively small numbers and leave it at that.

‘By pooling our engineering investment, our brands will develop a broader range of technologies, available faster than they could individually.’

The move will hasten the arrival of cleaner models from the Ford Group to join the company’s existing Flexi-Fuel Vehicles (FFV) which run on bioethanol and are currently running trials in the UK in Somerset and Norfolk.

  • FORD has expanded its FFV range with the Focus C-MAX now able to run on bioethanol. Priced from £14,695 – the same as a petrol version – the C-MAX FFV is on sale now.

    It may be joined in the near future by a Focus Coupe Cabriolet FFV version, with a concept car on display at the London show.