A third of all Ford cars sold globally have an engine that has been built in the UK, and the company has committed to a £1.5 billion spend on low CO2 technology here. And General Motors has now announced that its next generation Vivaro van will be built in the UK, securing thousands of domestic jobs.

Vince Cable said:

“The US is one of our most important trading partners, and our investment in each others’ economies is over £400 billion. I am keen to reaffirm this commitment through this visit, and I hope to find many more ways of working together in the future.

“Both our countries value the automotive sector very highly, so it clearly presents great opportunities for us. In the UK alone, car firms employ more than one in ten of all manufacturing employees.

“This is clearly a competitive market, but I believe that the UK can provide the right environment for manufacturers to succeed and grow. The Government is determined that it will remain so.”

As well as meeting with Ford and General Motors, Vince Cable toured the premises of Ricardo plc, a UK automotive engineering firm operating successfully in the US and in other countries across the world.

In its US base in Van Buren Township, Ricardo supports around 325 jobs. Across Michigan, UK owned affiliates employ over 19,300 people, which represents 13 per cent of all jobs provided by foreign companies in this state.

UK-based companies are integral to the supply chain of auto-components in Detroit. This makes them an important investment partner for US firms, with a lot to offer the economy at large.

The auto sector remains a core plank of the UK’s economy, with plans for the country to become a world leader in low and ultra-low carbon vehicles. The technologies to support this are one of the Government’s main areas for growth, and feature heavily in UKTI’s recently published five-year strategy.

Following his time in Detroit, Vince Cable will travel on to Canada, where he will meet with a number of Canadian Ministers to reinforce the close political, economic, commercial and historical ties between the UK and Canada.

As Canada’s second largest trading partner in both merchandise and investments, Vince Cable will reaffirm the UK’s support of Canada’s ambitious goals and commitments in the ongoing EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Fact file: UK/US trade

• The US is the single largest export customer for British goods and British services, and is the largest source of foreign direct investment.

• We are each other’s top investors and have a huge trading partnership.

• Every day, a million people in the UK go to work for US firms. And a million Americans are employed across the Atlantic by British companies.

• Indeed, one pound in every six created by exports is earned from our trade relations with the US – second only to the EU.

• UKTI is working tirelessly with US companies to promote British exports and to attract inward investment.

• In 2009/10, for example, UKTI played a significant role in helping US companies create 31,500 new jobs in the UK.

• British companies investing in the US support nearly one million American jobs with an average salary of more than seventy thousand dollars (high-value jobs).

• More than a quarter of the new investment projects in the UK in 2009/10 were from the US – 484 out of 1,619, creating 31,500 new jobs in sectors diverse as life sciences, the creative industries, ICT and professional services (more than the next five largest investors put together – Japan, France, India, Germany and China).

• The UK in 2010 attracted 1,619 FDI projects with the most projects – 484 – coming from the US. UKTI played an important role in more than 750 of them.

Fact file: UK automotive sector

• The automotive sector is hugely important to the UK with over 300,000 manufacturing jobs accounting for 12 per cent of the UK’s total manufacturing employment and a further 480,000 in the motor retail sector.

• We have 11 of the world’s volume vehicle manufacturers in the UK, supported by 19 of the world’s top 20 suppliers.

• The UK also has one of the most diverse auto sectors in the world as well as innovative designers and technology developers. There are at least 110 niche vehicle manufacturers making cars, commercial vehicles, buses, coaches, taxis and motorcycles.

• Automotive is the UK’s number one manufactured export and the US is an important market for UK manufacturers. In 2010 the UK auto sector exported over £27 billion-worth of vehicles and parts. 75 per cent of cars, 73 per cent of commercial vehicles and 72 per cent of UK engine production were exported in 2010. Indeed, automotive exports from the UK are almost at an all time high - approaching record pre-recession levels.

Fact file: UK/Canada trade

• The UK is Canada’s second largest trading partner with total trade £13 billion in a variety of sectors, including aerospace, precious metals, machinery, fuel products and pharmaceutical.

• The UK is Canada’s second largest source, and destination for, foreign direct investment. In 2009, Canadian direct investment in the UK totalled £41.1 billion and total UK investment in Canada reached £39.9 billion.

• Canada is an important global energy producer with proven oil reserves just behind those of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, representing £95 billion worth of energy exports per year.