BOSSES at a Halewood car parts plant facing a cut in shifts have pledged more than £100m investment and a new product launch next year.
Getrag Ford employs more than 650 staff ma-king car and van transmissions.
Falling orders led to plans to cut the existing three-shift system to two and possibly one, with some work switching to Bordeaux.
But union leaders have won a standoff while talks continue.
Getrag Ford vice-president of manufacturing John McDonald said: “Getrag is investing £100m for a brand new six speed trans-mission at a time of economic downturn.
“This is a brand new state-of-the-art transmission which has not been produced before and will ultimately replace the existing five-speed product in Halewood.”
Dave Osborne of Unite the Union said: “This is in no small way due to the contribution and efforts of our people who have delivered every-thing asked of them and em-braced new work-ing practices.”
