Plant must expand to cope with MINI demand

The Belfast Telegraph has an interesting story on the future of MINI production:

‘THE German car maker BMW is close to deciding on a major expansion of its MINI plant in Oxford to cope with booming demand for the iconic car.

Production this year is expected to exceed 180,000, boosted by the launch in July of a convertible version of the car. But output cannot grow much beyond that because the plant’s paint shop is already working almost at full capacity.

BMW executives have ambitious plans for further variants of the MINI, ranging from a sports utility model to a five-door MINI traveler or estate. They believe there is no reason why the brand cannot be extended in the same way that the BMW marque itself has grown to encompass a wide variety of models.

Michael Ganal, the BMW board member for sales and marketing, said the group was now “pretty close” to a decision on the expansion of Oxford. He said: “We
believe the MINI family has to grow.”‘

This fits in with a conversation recently held between MINI2 and MINI UK General Manager Trevor Houghton-Berry, who said Plant Oxford would have to expand to cope with demand (which will most likely mean difficult planning applications to build on green field sites) or production may have to be shared with a second location.

The preference was quite clearly to keep MINIs built solely in the UK. So lets hope the planning officers agree!