CHIPPENHAM manufacturer Dymag is looking to take on more than 200 extra workers after winning a government grant and loan package worth more than £7m.

Dymag, whose turnover is less than £500,000 a year, is to receive a £3.3m grant and a loan of £3.8m.

The business produces carbon composite wheels, whose ultra-light weight helps to reduce fuel consumption, and boss Chris Shelley it wants to stay in Chippenham. The firm employs only 12 people, but is looking at a 275-strong workforce when it transforms from supplying a niche market to mass producing for a global market.

It started out in one small unit in Bumpers Farm and now occupies four, and will be looking for bigger premises when it begins mass production next year with the help of Bristol’s National Composite Centre.

The production process, as well as research and development, is being made possible by funding from the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative, which aims to revive the British manufacturing sector. Dymag hopes to receive its first instalment of funding in three months.

Chief executive Chris Shelley said: “This is transformational for us, it is phenomenally huge.

“We’ve won money alongside the likes of Siemens, so we’re in really good company in terms of what we’ve managed to achieve.

“In the last 12 months BMW, Ford and General Motors plus several motorcycle manufacturers have shown an interest in carbon fibre wheels and the potential market is massive.

“We have customers already in North America and are talking to Europe and Japan. Ford Mustang will have them, the Chevrolet Corvette in America and BMW’s electric i series. Some of the biggest brands in the world have signed up. What they don’t have is a strong supply base.”

Mr Shelley personally bought Dymag’s assets when it was liquidated in 2009 and production restarted two years later.

He said: “We will be looking in 2016 at a site in Wiltshire or Bristol. We are very likely to stay in Chippenham.

“We’d like to do it in Chippenham, Melksham or Corsham.

“It will be influenced by the availability of the right site and ability to hire the right people. All the expertise is in Chippenham and we want to build it around our team, most of whom have 10 to 25 years experience with the company.”

The potential 263 new jobs will be in carbon wheel fabrication, machining, painting and assembly, plus a couple of engineers or designers.

Mr Shelley said: “Most will be needed from 2016 onwards, but we will be hiring five to 10 people in the next few months.

“We have our first apprentice starting next month and will be looking at another two or three in the short term. These are skilled assembly jobs and a lot of the expertise we need doesn’t exist.

”A set of four wheels costs £8,000 and they are generally found on high end sports cars and super cars costing £40,000 and above.”

But Mr Shelley said they were three years away from getting the price tag down to between £2,000 and £4,000 for a set.

He said: “Longer term they’ll go more mainstream.

“These wheels are the key to fuel consumption reduction and meeting emissions regulations.

“Reduced weight equals reduced emissions.”