Rolls-Royce looks to draw on the UK’s highly skilled automotive industry personnel to fill new positions.

Rolls-Royce is to boost its manufacturing workforce by 50% with the creation of 150 new jobs to support the production of the company’s latest model – the Rolls-Royce Ghost.

The new jobs will bring the total number of employees based at Goodwood, West Sussex to 900 by the end of 2009. The majority of the vacancies will be based in the wood, leather and paint shops as well as the assembly lines, and a number in the company’s headquarters, which is also based at Goodwood.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost is the latest addition to the luxury car manufacturers range and will be built on its own assembly line. Production will start in autumn 2009, with customer deliveries to start early 2010.

Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves said: “This is good news for the British car industry at a time when it is struggling. Britain has an exceptional talent for automotive production and we are keen to maximise this at Rolls-Royce.”

The news will bring a small ray of light to the car industry, which has seen car manufacturers across the world experience a sharp downturn in profits during the economic crisis, and many have been forced to slow production and cut back working hours to cope with a drop in demand. Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota, recently announced its biggest annual loss when it revealed a drop of more than £2.9 billion in its trading figures for the year to 31 March 2009.