AFTER 42 years at the Cowley car plant Ian Cummings now knows the future is secure for the next generation of workers thanks to a £500m investment by BMW.

Mr Cummings, 59, who joined Pressed Steel Fisher vehicle body works from school, praised the German giant for bringing stability and a clear sense of direction to the plant and its workers in the decade since it started Mini production.

He said: “Throughout the time I worked for Pressed Steel Fisher, British Leyland and the Rover Group, I never had a clear understanding of what this business is about.

“Now there is absolute clarity with a sense of purpose. The last decade has been a continuous success story.”

Mr Cummings, from Abingdon, a training manager in the vehicle assembly area, added: “The £500m is fantastic in terms of investing in this facility and the fact there is going to be a second generation of the car is brilliant for employees.

“We produce a high quality product that people want and it is testament to the workforce that the car is produced in the volumes and quality demanded and everyone has contributed to that.”

The Oxford Mail revealed in June last year how the car giant had submitted plans to Oxford City Council for a multi-million expansion of the plant.

And yesterday it was confirmed most of the huge investment will be made in Cowley over the next three years.

Some of the money will be used to build a new body shop, the foundations of which are already being put in place.

Cash will also be used to re-equip the works and the pressings plant in Swindon, as well as the engine manufacturing facility at Hams Hall, near Birmingham as it gears up for the next generation of the car, the timing of which has not been confirmed.

It is not known how the money will be divided, but Mini said yesterday a large chunk would be spent at Cowley.

Two workers who will benefit directly from the investment are apprentices Charlotte Jupp and Jo Rolstone.

Charlotte, 21, from Marston, a third year human resources (HR) apprentice, who has followed in the footsteps of grandfather Bill into the plant, said: “It has secured jobs and given apprentices more stability and greater opportunities.

“I feel very positive and motivated about working here.”

Jo, 19, from Didcot, who started her HR apprenticeship last August, added: “This will help secure future apprenticeships and encourage teen-agers to apply here rather than university.”

BMW has now invested more than £1.5bn in its UK operations since 2000, much of it in the Cowley plant and the new investment scotches fears that future models will be built abroad, despite the recent Countryman model being made in Austria.

The announcement came as BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer met Prime Minister David Cameron in Downing Street, accompanied by apprentices from the Oxford plant where the company has pledged that all 3,700 jobs have been secured as a result.

Last year the Mini plant produced 216,302 cars, exporting 80 per cent of them to more than 90 countries across the world.

And in the next six months two new models will be unveiled, the Coupe, a two-seater sports car – the production of which is starting now – and the convertible Roadster, also a two-seater.

Later this year the two millionth car will come down the line at Cowley.

Back in 2001 when production first started, BMW estimated production to be no more than 100,000 a year.