How many production facilities for Mini?

[eBrit]

A HUNCH

There are far more red spots at the factory and the dealers than white (or blue for that matter). Could the spots be indicative of bonnet stripes?...or roof decals? Where do they put on decals?...at the factory...or the VPC? Do we have a dealer reading?...or even better ..someone who works at Cowley?...to satisfy our curiousity

eBrit

[mainlinemenace]

The discs in the window represent what region the dealer is within the network. there are 8 regions in the uk and all cars delivered to my dealership have blue discs.

I think,sounds good though

Anyway dont worry about what colour or shape the discs/stickers are they mean nothing to the end user, they are to help track the car from production to distribution.

[eBrit]

Quote:

Originally posted by mainlinemenace
The discs in the window represent what region the dealer is within the network. there are 8 regions in the uk and all cars delivered to my dealership have blue discs.

I think,sounds good though

Naghhhh...if that were the case ...how come Huey got a red one amd me a white one ...and our cars nuzzled upto one and other at the same dealer? Anyway,that would make my car English and Huey's Welsh


eBrit

[BruceK]

From what I understand the 'rules' of:

• TE = CVT Cooper
  TC = 5 speed Cooper
  TD = Cooper S

are accurate as they relate to US and Canadian market MINIs.

[fadec]

Hmmmm.... Doesn't it seem weird that with several hundred members we have here....


....there isn't a single MINI employee among us that could get us a real and solid answer!?!?

Makes me wonder, what's the big secret?


Think it might be time for someone over there to head to the factory offering several pints to whom will talk!

[eBrit]

Please...Stateside owners...could you ask what different colour disks mean from MINI USA. We don;t have anyone to ask in UK!

I've now discovered they come in at least white, red, yellow, blue, and green

eBrit

[very mini]

has this question been answered? I'm curious!

[chughes163]

I should be able to answer this question for you all shortly. As i live 6 miles from the cowley plant and they are one of the main employers in the region, I have quite a few friends who work there, one of which is on the production line. Hopefully he will spill the beans...

[BillK]

Every character in a VIN does have meaning. The last four or fivedigits are the serial number, everything prior has meaning that can be decoded. There are several web sites that will help, unfortunatly, the VIN code referances I have checked are not updated for MINI's codes yet, so I have no rosetta stone.

Here is some infor clipped from an old post of mine:

Here is a breakdown of what is in the VIN:

Possition Description

1-3 Country Code & Manufacturer

4-8 Equipment codes (paint color/options, etc.)

9 Check Digit

10 Model Year (NOT the year digit, this is an alpha code for the year)

11 Mfg. Plant

12-17 Serial Number

[Dom]

miniguy spilled the beans on the discs once, can't remember what it meant though... think it was something to do with when it was built

[MiNiGuY]

Quote:

Originally posted by indiman
A Mini USA operator told me the following based on the last seven digits of my VIN # TE13363:

The 'E' designated a different production facility... he couldn't tell me the name of the plant or where it is.

Any thoughts?

The MINI USA operator is incorrect.

As has been previously mentioned here, all MINI's are built at Plant Oxford, and all MINI's for all countries share the same production lines at that factory.

The 'E' in your vin signifies that your car is a 'NAS' spec vehicle.

'Nas' stands for 'North American Specification', although, BMW originally used the term 'NAS' at the factory to identify a vehicle that was specced for Canada or Japan also, even though there are differences between the vehicles.
This was in the early days of these models and Japanese cars are now known as 'JAP' Spec, although Canadian cars remain 'NAS' spec for some strange reason.

Anyway,

Getting back to the point - These vehicles (NAS+JAP) are the only MINI's to sport the TD or TE designation.

TD is manual transmission
TE is automatic or CVT

Cars built for Canada,Usa, and Japan have different safety implementations than cars for other countrys.
They also share some fundimental differences in equipment/electronic spec.
This is why BMW specify TD or TE for those cars only.
It's mainly for internal (factory) identification,build and check purposes.

USA,Canada and Japan spec cars undergo a seperate list of post build checks.

Your car for instance (being American) has crash pads behind the door casings, Hard foam padding at 7 points beneath the headliner (interior roof), different spec MFE (modular front end - which is the radiator assembly), larger airbags, weaker front fog light brackets and various other bits and pieces - all of which differs from other country spec.

Canadian and Japanese vehicles have similar differences, although Canadian MINI's have to be built to the most stringent legislation of all. I mention that USA cars have weaker fog light brackets. This is in order that they break away more easily in an accident, or when hitting a pedestrian. Canadian legislation is so extreme that the weakest brackets are used AND a screw has to be ommited from the three point fixture design to meet that legislation. The things are almost falling off before the car leaves the factory!!. The canadian design MFE is also the most complex of all MINI's.

To understand the VIN system fully - I wrote a comprehensive post on this some time ago.
Please do a search if you are interested.

P.S - Different Colour Disks:-

These disks are battery condition disks.

I wrote a comprehensive post on this also, some time ago.
Please do a search if you are interested.

MiNiGuY.

[Rob.]

Thanks Miniguy,
Once again you have given us some excellent information expressed in a well thought out manner A+
I wasn't really interested in this thread until I read your post about what it all means.
Hope your new job is going well mate.

[MiNiGuY]

Quote:

Originally posted by Silver and Black
Thanks Miniguy,
Once again you have given us some excellent information expressed in a well thought out manner A+
I wasn't really interested in this thread until I read your post about what it all means.
Hope your new job is going well mate.

Cheers S+B.

All is well thanks. Still dropping by here now and then.

[very mini]

thanks miniguy!!!