At the end of the day, if BMW develop a chassis, they may as well earn a few bob by letting some other folks use it, especially premium brands.
I know BMWs talks with Volvo about a takeover have fallen through, so selling the platform would bring instant revenue, and also slash the cost of developing the next generation platforms.
All good from a business point of view... if the MINI becomes cheaper to develop, there may be less corners cut elsewhere, and we hopefully get a better product (not that it isn't already fantastic of course)
