UK car industry to receive £1bn for technology investment The UK car industry will get a £1bn shot in the arm to boost technology research and skills as part of a 10-year scheme joint-funded by the government and manufacturers. The two parties have committed £500m each to a new national engine development centre that is expected to create 30,000 jobs and support the country's supply chain, which is facing a shortage of skills and funding. The announcement comes as part of a wider automotive strategy released by Vince Cable, business secretary, on Friday. The move is aimed at keeping the UK car industry, which has rebounded from close to collapse over the past half-decade, globally competitive and at the forefront of new technological developments. "The UK automotive sector has been incredibly successful in recent times, with billions of pounds of investment and new jobs," said Mr Cable. With the next generation of vehicles set to be powered by radically different technologies, we need to maintain this momentum and act now. Our industrial strategy will ensure we keep on working together to make our automotive industry a world leader. Led by a resurgent Jaguar Land Rover and continued investment in UK factories by Nissan, Toyota and BMW, the British car industry has defied a prolonged and painful slump in the wider European automotive sector by increasing its focus on technology and high-end vehicles. Industry turnover rose 3 per cent to £59.3bn last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, as vehicle production rose almost 8 per cent to 1.58m vehicles. Four out of five vehicles were exported to around 100 overseas markets. The industry has attracted £6bn of private investment over the past two years, but the government's fresh injection is targeted specifically at a new engine design and manufacturing centre that will be operational by 2014, and aims to make the UK a hotbed of research into new power train technologies to replace traditional petrol and diesel engines. Global carmakers are under increased pressure from emissions targets drawn up by western governments to find a viable, long-term replacement for combustion engines. But they are yet to find consensus as infrastructure constraints and cost barriers complicate research into electric, hydrogen-powered and hybrid strategies. The government initiative follows investments by Toyota into a UK development centre for hybrid power trains and decisions by BMW and Ford to invest in their substantial engine plants in the country. But executives say a skills and funding crunch, especially in the country's supply chain, are standing in the way of continued growth and a government target to reach output of 2m vehicles by 2017. The strategy, which follows a similar initiative for the aerospace industry steered by Mr Cable's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, aims to recruit 7,600 apprentices and 1,700 graduates into the industry over the next five years. "Our goals are to grow vehicle production and component supply with more investment, jobs and advanced technology developed in the UK," said Mike Baunton, interim chief executive of the SMMT, which represents the country's automotive companies.