According to insider reports, initially posted on the MINI2 forums, the second generation MINI Convertible (internal code R57) has begun its test production at BMW Group Plant Oxford in Cowley, UK.

Every new MINI goes through several stages of production and pre-production, this merely being the first stage of “in-house” production at the facility in Oxford, where full production is expected to begin next summer.  Early production cars are as much as test of the manufacturing process as of the design and build of the car itself, and is a highly sensitive and critical step on the way to full series production of the finished models.

Apparently the first new MINI Convertible to roll down the lines at the Cowley plant was a dark blue model.