Van production at Ford’s Southampton plant is expected to be more than halved in the next three years with the manufacturing shifting to Turkey.

Jobs are expected to be lost among the 1100 workforce at the factory which produces a range of Transit vans.

The current Transit will be made at Southampton until 2011 when it will be replaced by a new model to be made in Turkey. Southampton will after that date make only chassis cab Transits, the front part of the van onto which customers will put their own rear sections. Ford said that it expected about 35,000 chassis cab Transits to be produced by Southampton from 2011. This compares with the current output of 74,000.

The US carmaker said it will invest multi millions in Southampton to prepare it for the chassis cab production. However, unions believe that the plant needs at least £200 million to secure its future. They fear that the new plan for Southampton will lead to its ultimate closure.

Ford’s European plan for the factory has still to be approved by the carmakers’s main board next year. But there is no other proposal that will be made for the plant.

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