A cutting-edge test centre is poised to put Cumbria at the forefront of developing a new generation of electric and hybrid cars.

Bosses at M-Sport believe the rapidly-growing market for more environmentally-friendly vehicles could prove a lucrative one for its new £19m evaluation centre.

Work is well underway on building the complex - the only one of its kind in the UK – at the rally and motorsport company’s Dovenby Hall headquarters, near Cockermouth.

Technology from major manufacturers including Telsa and Ford is set drive the electric and hybrid market at even greater speed.

Ford this week announced that it wants electric and autonomous cars to account for 20 per cent of its United States sales by 2030.

M-Sport believes that its secluded setting at Dovenby will make it the ideal place for manufacturers to develop their technology – and interest is already emerging.

Security representatives from a number of firms have already visited the site.

M-Sport managing director Malcom Wilson said: “We believe the new evaluation centre will allow M-Sport to target motor manufacturers searching for privacy to develop and evaluate hybrid and electric vehicle technology.

“I’ve seen and been hugely impressed by what companies like Tesla are doing and we see this centre as somewhere to really drive innovation for the future.

“I’ve had expressions of interest from a few manufacturers and they all

seemed impression with our location in Cumbria. “It’s the perfect site which will offer technical resource and an evaluation track – all with the important element of privacy.”

M-Sport is a major player in work to make the motor industry a major player in Cumbria’s economy.

Pirelli’s tyre factory in Carlisle is already a major employer, while expanding city tyre firm DMACK in talks about a factory at Kingmoor Park.

Work to build M-Sport’s new centre, which overcame a number of objections to get the go-ahead, started in May and has already seen more than 200,000 tonnes of earth moved to clear the land and build four metre-high sound attenuation bunds.

The project is being led by Carlisle-based Northern developments.

Martyn Boak, of Northern Developments, said: “The groundworks stage has been a mammoth undertaking and we’ve got a great team on site to ensure the project is on track.

“Meeting the strict noise limitations means we’re creating special bunds and specially designed noise attenuation areas.”