BMW is investing more than £100m over the next two years to boost production at its Oxford plant, where it makes the Mini, in a move that will create some 200 new jobs.
The investment will enable the plant to boost output of existing Mini models by about 20% from 2007, according to the company, and the additional flexibility is seen as paving the way for the next generation Mini. However, executives yesterday refused to say when a new version might be introduced.
Around 140,000 Minis are exported, adding to the 43,000 sold in the UK and pushing production close to double initial expectations. Yesterday BMW's production director Dr Norbert Reithofer said the company had no plans "at the moment" to build the Mini anywhere other than at the Oxford plant which currently employs 4,500 people. But he added: "We are in a dynamic industry. Who knows what will be in three years' time? Let's wait and see." He ruled out the Mini ever being built at an existing BMW plant.
The Munich-based company has already pumped some £280m into the Oxford plant since it sold the rest of the MG Rover business to the Phoenix consortium in 2000. Since the launch of the new Mini in 2001, more than 500,000 have been built with the plant at times running for 134 hours a week in an effort to keep pace with demand.
Though BMW estimates its new investment will boost capacity by around a fifth from the 189,000 cars produced last year, insiders believe the company is being conservative and that the changes will provide the potential to produce between 250,000 and 300,000 vehicles a year. "This is another milestone for Mini and Mini production in the plant," according to the Oxford facility's managing director Dr Anton Heiss. "The significant investment announced today shows BMW's commitment to the future of one of the world's most exciting cars and its home of production."
As well as the investment at Oxford the company has spent £400m at the Hams Hall engine plant, which is set to begin providing engines for the Mini, and has a £40m investment programme under way at its steel pressings factory in Swindon. BMW, which also owns Rolls-Royce, calculates that it is the UK's fourth largest carmaker in terms of output. Andrew Smith, the MP for Oxford East, said the success of the Mini showed "what can be achieved if you put together a partnership of a first rate workforce, first rate trade unions, first rate management and long-term investment in a first rate product by a first rate company".
· Fiat shook up its car brands yesterday, splitting the Maserati marque from the Ferrari racing unit to link it more closely to its underperforming Alfa Romeo brand. The move was being seen as the first step in a long-awaited listing of Ferrari.
