Wales’ leading commercial vehicle converter MS-RT will create more than 170 new jobs when it expands operations and launches a new manufacturing facility with turnover expected to more than triple to £66 million by 2025.
Based at Mamhilad Park Estate near Pontypool, MS-RT is a design-led automotive engineering company creating bespoke Ford vehicles, comprising the Ford Transit Connect MS-RT, Ford Transit Custom MS-RT and Ford Ranger MS-RT, with vehicles sold to consumers through Ford Transit Specialist dealers throughout the UK.
MS-RT has a licence agreement with M-Sport, which operates a global motorsport business on the circuits of the world’s most acclaimed motorsports series. The business has a full-service customisation offering incorporating research and design through to manufacturing and Aftersales support.
Santander UK has provided MS-RT with a £2.3m funding package enabling it to develop its new premises on the site of Ford’s main UK manufacturing plant in Dagenham.
The funding supports its investment to fully refurbish the facility with state-of-the-art paint facilities, a semi-automated production line, extensive warehousing, and a design and engineering studio. The Dagenham facility has Freeport status enabling more cost-effective exports, primarily to Europe, with the UK initially being its prime volume market and has capacity to produce 32 vehicles a day.
MS-RT’s existing site at Mamhilad Park Estate was established in 2015 and employs a staff of 130. When the new operation opens at Ford Dagenham, MS-RT’s parent company, EDC Limited, will focus its Mamhilad operations on a growing list of global vehicle manufacturer clients that are looking to add ‘sporty derivatives’ of their commercial vehicle range to their product line-up.
The business plans to hire an additional 50 staff over the coming year, while it continues to invest in additional manufacturing facilities and equipment at the Mamhilad site.
It is anticipated that the Ford Dagenham expansion, coupled with growth in capacity outside Pontypool, will increase the annual turnover of EDC Limited from £21m last year to a forecast £66m by 2025.
