ALLIED Vehicles plans to create up to 200 jobs in Glasgow, as the family-owned business expands into new sectors and enters new international markets.

The vehicle modification specialist, owned by brothers Gerry and Michael Facenna, has recently begun producing wheelchair-accessible vehicles in Mexico as it bids to gain a foothold in the lucrative US market.

And Gerry Facenna has also revealed the company – which is the biggest supplier of wheelchair-accessible vehicles in Europe – is aiming to expand production into new sectors, including horse-boxes, welfare vehicles and mini-buses. Its taxi division, Cab Direct, is the largest supplier of vehicles to the UK taxi trade.

Allied, which also owns the nearby Glasgow Tigers speedway team, currently employs 600 staff in a number of manufacturing units spread across a site in Possilpark in the north of Glasgow. Defying a slowdown in UK manufacturing, the businesses has, over the past five years, increased staff levels by 63 per cent and revenue by 92 per cent, to £120m.

While Mr Facenna continues to steer the business, his son Peter will oversee much of the expansion, having been promoted to managing director upon the retirement of Paul Nelson.

Following pre-tax profit of £3.4 million on turnover of £106m to April 2015, Mr Facenna said Allied had grown revenue by 10-15 per cent for the year ending April 2016.

“Usually manufacturers are breaking our doors down to get in here, but one of the reason we moved to Ford is that just last year we started selling into Europe,” said Mr Facenna.

Having shifted 200 vehicles as a “test”, Mr Facenna expects sales to increase into the continent, buoyed by the weak sterling.

“At the moment some of the European manufacturers are lifting prices to us, so the vehicles are getting dear,” he noted. “We either take that pill or pass to the customer and we’re doing a bit of both, but it’s really helping us export into Europe; there’s never been a better time. We can say our vehicles are 15 per cent cheaper, so export wise it’s going to be massive for us if it keeps going.”

The company has just launched three new converted buses, in 15, 16 and 17-seat models, which Mr Facenna thinks could sell 500 in year one and 1,000 in year two.

A new welfare vehicle – which is fitted with a kitchen and bathroom facilities – is also being introduced to the range.

And Mr Facenna said a private ambulance range could add another 1,000 sales a year.

These additions come amidst discussions on new contracts in the supply of wheelchair-accessible vehicles, which could lead to a contract to add 1,000 further vehicles to the 4,000 already being supplied to Motability in the UK through its Allied Mobility brand.

In 2015 Allied supplied 41 per cent of wheelchair accessible vehicles sold in the UK and has increased its share this year – helping it to supply more than 6,000 vehicles in total.

All of this will steadily increase the number of workers required at a company which was founded 22 years ago.

“If you look at the buses, we’re now taking pictures and doing brochures,” said Mr Facenna. “It’s three months until the vehicles start hitting here to get build. [Private] ambulances the same, welfare vehicles we’re starting to get. If you say 12 months, I would expect to see another 200 people here.”

Then there’s the expansion across the Atlantic. Allied has been working with its long-term partner Peugeot in Mexico, leading to an initial run of 40 vehicles. And this expansion is one of the reasons Mr Facenna was keen to strike a partnership with Ford. “What we didn’t have was a pan-worldwide vehicle [as Peugeot doesn’t sell into the US],” he said. “Ford gives us that, it sells in America. The plan is that we’ll build Peugeot and Ford [in Mexico] and the Fords will push into the US market.”

Describing the American market as having “massive” potential, Mr Facenna said the accessible market was dominated by £60,000 conversions.

“There is no one, or it’s just starting, where smaller affordable models are being done,” said Mr Facenna.

When asked how big the business could go, Mr Facenna said: “People say to me, you must have a strategy. The plan is simply ‘growth’; we just get bigger. People plan; we just see the opportunities that come up.”