UK based earthmover and telehandler manufacturer JCB has announced plans to invest £31 million in a project to develop a new generation of engines that will create around 350 new jobs in the UK.

The new programme will benefit from a £4.5 million grant towards the development costs from the UK government’s Regional Growth Fund.

Design and research for the new engine project will take place at JCB Power Systems in Foston, Derbyshire, where the company’s JCB record breaking Dieselmax engine is manufactured.

The company has started recruiting for 50 new engineering jobs, including engine design and development engineers, engine electronics and software engineers, quality technicians, manufacturing engineers, applications engineers, supplier development engineers and buyers.

The JCB Dieselmax car set the world diesel land speed record of 350.092mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2006.

When the engine goes into production from 2016, more than 300 additional jobs will be created across its Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Wrexham facilities.

JCB Chief Executive Alan Blake said: “Since we began production in 2004, JCB has led the way in off-highway engine development, with a range of fuel saving, clean and highly efficient engines.”

“The announcement that we now intend to invest £31 million developing our next generation engine is an important step in building on the success we have enjoyed so far and it will take the efficiency, productivity and environmental performance of our engines to new levels.”

JCB began manufacturing its Dieselmax engine range in 2004 and earlier this year opened a new engine production facility in India, for the production of fuel-efficient engines for its locally built products.

More than 70 percent of the company’s product range is now powered by its own engines and it recently launched the Ecomax T4 4.4 litre engine, which eliminates the need for any exhaust after-treatment to meet Tier 4 Final emission requirements.