MINI2

Well, we said it would happen, and now it’s official:  

The new MINI Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) will be built by Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik in Graz, Austria. The vehicle concept, devised by MINI Design and BMW Group engineers, has been entrusted to Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik for series development and for later production.

The cooperation with Magna Steyr is an efficient way for BMW Group to ensure the planned profitable growth through new model launches set out in the company’s strategic alignment.

By outsourcing production of the MINI SAV, BMW Group is able to increase flexibility within its own production network. This allows the lead plant for MINI production in Oxford to fully direct its midterm capacity of 260,000 units towards meeting demand for the three core models MINI, MINI Convertible and MINI Clubman. It is this outsourcing of MINI SAV production that makes the extension of the MINI family possible. Frank-Peter Arndt, Head of Production and Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, explains the advantages:

By using Magna Steyr for production, we are able to give our own Production Network some breathing space to respond fully to market needs. This solution will also allow us to bring the MINI SAV to the market as quickly as possible.

Magna Steyr is an experienced partner of BMW Group, having already produced the highly successful BMW X3. Speaking about the new contract, Siegfried Wolf, co-CEO of Magna International, sees this as a

huge recognition of the work that Magna Steyr has achieved so far through its partnership with BMW Group. Above all, I’m delighted for our employees, as this will allow us to set another milestone in our long-running and successful cooperation with BMW Group. As we have done before, we will work on this vehicle programme with our fullest commitment to ensure that we meet BMW Group’s high expectations.

As with all partnerships, BMW Group itself will be steering all aspects concerning the brand and the concept of the MINI SAV project. Thus, the majority of the drive train development will be realised by BMW. In addition, BMW Group will design the supply contracts with the suppliers whilst Magna will be responsible for call-offs during series production. The MINI designers will ensure that the vehicle will be a true MINI.

MINI2 predicted this news in February of this year, as you will see in this article.

Left Lane News have some good quality spy shots from KGP photography of the forthcoming MINI SAV model, codenamed Colorado.

The sequence of photos shows the jacked up and flared arched MINI Clubman drive by, revealing front, side and rear profiles.  Of most interest to MINI watchers will be the treatment at the rear and underside of the vehicle, where several factors indicate a variety of AWD system is being tested.

Read the full story, ogle the photos at Left Lane News.

In case anyone wasn’t 100% sure if reports MINI were to build their new new model, the MINI SAV codenamed “Colorado”, away from Plant Oxford were accurate, BMW have confirmed that to be the case.

BMW spokesperson Rebecca Baxter told the Oxford Mail

The SAV is not going to be built in Plant Oxford but it will remain the lead plant for Mini production.

With the SAV we are looking at co-operating with an external partner but we don’t know who that is going to be - it is an ongoing investigation for us.

By teaming up with and using the facilities of another manufacturer, Ms Baxter claimed it would lead to a cut in the time needed to develop the new model.

You can read the full report on the Oxford Mail website.

In news that will come as a shock to nobody (or maybe one or two) in the MINI community, BMW today officially confirmed the next model to expand the MINI range will be a Sports Activity Vehicle, to be launched “by 2012″.

The full press release follows:

BMW Group Sets Course for the Future

New strategy focuses on increasing value
New profitability and growth targets approved
Programme to tap 6 billion Euros in efficiency potential by 2012
Shareholders to benefit from company success to a greater extent

Munich. The BMW Group has set course for a successful future with its strategic realignment.

We will consistently align the BMW Group to achieve profitability and increase value over the long term,

said Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, on Thursday when he presented the new corporate strategy in Munich. The Group’s strategic direction up to 2020 is clearly defined: The BMW Group is the world’s leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility.

Return on sales target of 8% to 10% in the Automobile segment

The future strategy focuses on ensuring the company’s long-term success and safeguarding its independence. The BMW Group has set ambitious interim targets for the first five years: Automobile retail is supposed to rise to more than 1.8 million vehicles by 2012. During this period, the company plans to increase deliveries in the motorcycle business by 50% to 150,000 units per annum.

Profitability takes priority over mere volume growth.

We will focus the entire organisation on the return on capital,

Reithofer commented. In the Automobile segment, the company plans to achieve a Return on Capital Employed (RoCE) of 26% and a return on sales of between 8% and 10% as of 2012.

The BMW Group’s strategic targets for the time period until 2020 are equally ambitious: The company intends to increase retail in the automobile business to clearly more than two million vehicles.

Programme launched to tap six billion euros in efficiency potential

The BMW Group will launch a comprehensive efficiency programme that will encompass all of the company’s divisions and will apply to both performance and costs. “It is designed to tap approximately six billion euros in efficiency potential by 2012,” Reithofer emphasised. The new programme is based on the principle of EfficientDynamics, a strategy that is successfully applied to the company’s automobiles as well: More output for less input.

The BMW Group plans to tap additional earnings potential by starting new business activities, among other things. In addition to new products and markets, the BMW Group has identified potential along the vehicle lifecycle and the automotive industry’s value chain. Another positive effect on earnings is to arise from the consistent positioning of the vehicles in the premium segment.

In addition, the BMW Group has adopted a range of measures that will help achieve significant progress in terms of cost. Besides putting all cost structures to the test, the company will continue to standardise processes. Further targets include a reduction in cost, capital expenditure and capital employed per vehicle in development, production, sales and administration. Cooperation is supposed to lead to economies of scale for components, modules and drive systems. The BMW Group aims for a rise in productivity of at least 5% a year.

Thanks to the targeted productivity increase, the BMW Group expects to be able to achieve the growth planned for the period until 2012 with roughly the same level of personnel as today.

Natural hedging and purchasing in US dollars to be expanded

In order to strengthen independence from currency fluctuations, the BMW Group will strategically step up natural hedging as well as purchasing, primarily in US dollars. By 2012, production capacity of the US plant in Spartanburg will be increased from 140,000 at present to 240,000 units. Plans for the expansion are already underway.

The BMW Group will also raise the Oxford MINI plant’s capacity to 260,000 units per annum, without making additional investments. In addition, the company plans to take the first step to increasing capacities in China from 30,000 to 44,000 units a year.

Increase in payout ratio – Significantly higher dividend planned for 2007

The Board of Management is convinced that the strategic realignment will be successful over the long term. Therefore, the company plans to let shareholders benefit from the company’s success to a greater extent by substantially increasing the dividend payout ratio. As a first step, the Board of Management will propose a significantly higher dividend for the financial year 2007 to the Supervisory Board and the Annual General Meeting.

The BMW Group will also keep the option of conducting a share buyback. However, in the next twelve months, the company will concentrate on increasing the dividend payout ratio.

The BMW Group intends to do more for employees as well. In order to safeguard pensions, pension obligations in Germany will gradually be funded out in three phases over the next few years.

X1, Gran Turismo, MINI SAV, Rolls-Royce Coupe to be launched by 2012

The BMW Group will continue its product initiative, making use of modular systems for all new models in order to increase synergy effects. A new X1 model will complement the successful X Sports Activity Vehicle lineup, in addition to the BMW Concept X6 presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Furthermore, the company will manufacture a four-door Gran Turismo based on the CS concept study showcased in Shanghai. Another result of the new strategy is that the BMW Group will not build a space-functional concept. Instead, the company plans to introduce a fundamentally altered concept called Progressive Activity Sedan (PAS). This concept will establish an entirely new segment, introducing a unique interpretation of the sedan and offering a wide range of intelligent features.

The next MINI model will be a Sports Activity Vehicle. The Rolls-Royce model portfolio will be expanded as well: A Coupe will be launched as the third variant of the Phantom. An additional Rolls-Royce model is in the pipeline; it will be positioned below the Rolls-Royce Phantom in terms of both price and size. Furthermore, the BMW Group will continue to extend the product portfolios under the BMW Motorrad and Husqvarna Motorcycles brands in the years to come.

Dr. Reithofer: In principle, acquisitions will be kept on the agenda

The BMW Group explored all of the options for future growth during the strategic review, including potential acquisitions or the creation of a fourth brand. However, this would require the new automotive brand to be a perfect fit for the company and its strengths. Moreover, rising unit figures would have to result in a decline in unit costs and thus lead to economies of scale. The new brand would have to at least make the same positive contribution to earnings as the existing automobile business. However, an in-depth analysis found that none of the evaluated automotive brands currently meets these requirements.

Nevertheless, the BMW Group does not generally rule out further acquisitions. Accordingly, the successful acquisition of the tradition-rich Husqvarna brand and its sporty profile have enabled the BMW Group to attract new and younger target groups in the Motorcycles segment.

In principle, we will keep acquisitions on our agenda. We defined clear criteria for potential acquisitions within the scope of our strategic review. This will allow us to act swiftly whenever necessary,

according to Reithofer.

As always, the BMW Group will focus on its inherent strengths and thus on the market for premium vehicles and services, a segment that will continue to grow much faster than the mass market. The company expects the premium segment to increase by about 40 percent between 2005 and 2019, compared to an increase just under 20 percent for the mass segment.

The BMW Group will continue to invest heavily in future technologies with a view to developing entirely new individual mobility solutions, thus guaranteeing the company’s innovation leadership for the next decade as well. With its EfficientDynamics development strategy, the BMW Group has gained a significant edge over competitors, for example in reducing carbon emissions.

I am firmly convinced that this strategy will lead us to continued business success,

Reithofer stated.

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No details on name, release date and specifications have been released, the codename “Colorado” has been known for some time, and rumours about the location of production have been rife, with Austria being among the leading candidates being touted, making this the first new MINI to be produced outside of the UK.

Magna International is negotiating with BMW to build a sport-utility-vehicle version of the MINI, industry sources in Europe said yesterday.

The vehicle is known internally as the Colorado and Magna’s Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, would assemble about 65,000 of the vehicles annually a source in Detroit said.

In addition, Magna Steyr is in the running to assemble a roadster for Volkswagen AG, which would add another 20,000 vehicles to production at Graz, the same Detroit source revealed.

This news comes Today from the Canadian Globe and Mail publication, and ties in with our report from February that the MINI 4×4 could be built in Austria. Whether or not the sources quoted are reliable and hold any genuinely new information is anyone’s guess.

Austria, famed for giving the World Arnie, Mozart, and Ferdinand Porsche at the head of the line to bring us a new MINI variant?

There’s lots of rumours and stories around at the moment about the future direction(s) the MINI brand may take. Lots of information tallies, and lots of it, as there’s plenty of crystal ball gazing taking place, just doesn’t figure at all. So we thought we’d add a little to the confusion.

Recently we received word that MINI is well advanced in it’s plans to produce the previously rumoured “MINI SUV” or “Colorado”, and the favoured candidate for the production location is Magna Steyr, in Graz. Magna Steyr currently produce the BMW X3, and also carried out development work for that vehicle.

“Test mule” MINIs have been spotted near the plant already, leading people to believe that Magna Steyr may have been working together with BMW on development of the 4WD MINI, and it seems that due to production capacity, as well as logistical reasons, Magna is by far the favoured production facility for the next new MINI.

Rumour suggests the car will be a sort of “Soft Roader” MINI, which will help further broaden the appeal of the MINI range. The styling is said to be more bullish and aggressive than the current second generation MINI. The idea appears to be to build in a bit more toughness in to the relatively cutesy MINI look. So this will be a bigger, more aggressive MINI with off-road ambitions. And it’s going to keep the “MINI” theme. Tough job for both the designers and engineers, but if they pull it off it could be a big hit. Which is just as well, as production forecasts are for as many as 80,000 vehicles a year.