Yorkshire-based Angloco has secured additional funding from Barclays after winning a £16m contract. Angloco supplies fire-fighting and rescue vehicles worldwide and Barclays is providing trade facilities to support exports. The ongoing expansion of the company could create employment opportunities. Angloco employs 70 staff and has turnover of £16m.

General Motors has indicated that the future of Vauxhall factory in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire is secure, along with 2,100 jobs. The manufacturer is expected to confirm the creation of hundreds more jobs at the plant. The factory is expected to produce the new Astra, along with a factory in Poland, from 2015.

Aston Martin has opened a 1,400 sq m new training academy in Gaydon, Warwickshire, to train new employees. 230 new jobs have been created by the transfer of production of the Rapide model from Austria to Gaydon. Training will be carried out by staff recruited from the company's own production lines.

Vauxhall is nearing an agreement with unions that could secure the future of 2,100 jobs at its Ellesmere Port car plant. The talks concern working practices at the plant, including the introduction of a third shift to increase both efficiency and production. Owner General Motors has committed to running the Cheshire plant until 2014.