A planned gigafactory at Coventry airport has not yet secured an investor – months after a deal was reported to be close. It comes after widespread reports of a global slowdown in growth of electric vehicle sales this summer.

The project at Baginton aims to bring in huge investment and create thousands of jobs for the region.

Talks with battery manufacturers were said to be at an "advanced" stage last year, and in March the Sunday Times reported a firm was on the brink of committing billions to the scheme.

But half a year on there has been no update. Asked about progress on investment, a Coventry councillor involved with the project admitted the market had seen a "correction" and claimed this would resolve.

Speaking last week Cllr Jim O'Boyle said conversations with a number of potential investors from around the world are ongoing.

"These are quite complex and they're quite difficult," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS.)

"And you have to put it in the context as well of the fact that there has been a slight downturn, it's a matter of record, of sales of electric vehicles not just in this country but around the world. And there's a slight correction.

"That will correct itself, and it will carry on a trajectory upwards. And that is the natural cycle of things with the automotive sector, it's feast and famine.

"And I think a number of them are just waiting to see where things go. And that's not in relation to the UK, that's not in relation to Greenpower Park, that's in relation to how these OEMs are developing their business strategies going forward so I'm not concerned or worried about that."

Cllr O'Boyle later clarified that there is not a downturn but a "correction."

He added: "There's a process that goes through where investment is not paused but what happens is that economics and countries and governments, they've looked at the dates they're looking at as to when the transition will happen.

"They've looked at how they set those incentives, how viable is that, not just across the UK across Europe, across the world, how are that particular sector able to cope with that going forward? That's all that you're talking about."

Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, added: "We know that there's a global market appetite for gigafactories and the building of batteries. We've got a big advantage in this region given our history, we've got great research institutions."

"Our responsibility as political leaders is to make sure that we convert those opportunities into jobs and inward investment and that's what we're going to do. And it's a fantastic opportunity to put this region back on the map at the leading edge of battery production and advanced manufacturing and that's what we're going to do."

The pair were speaking after the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)'s investment zones board approved funding for the planned gigafactory site known as the 'Coventry-Warwick gigapark'. 

The £2 million will go on technical work to support a future planning application by a gigafactory investor including environmental assessments and highways access points.

It will also be spent on designing up the power provision needed for the site though this does not include installation, the WMCA said. More funding from a planned £35 million package to improve the area's transport and power connections is set to be released next year, the authority added.

Since April the area has had tax incentives which aim to help bring in investment for the planned battery factory and boost associated businesses and technologies. It is hoped the gigapark will become the UK's "largest cluster for battery technology and manufacturing" according to WMCA meeting papers.

The WMCA report said there had been "good progress on business cases and investor engagement" for the site.

A further business case for another £21 million of capital investment for the zone is being developed, the papers added.