SMMT News

Half a million MINIs made in Oxford

25 August 2004 #SMMT News

The 500,000th MINI has come off the production line at BMW Group Plant in Oxford, three years since the car first went on sale.

MINI has revised its target to make 100,000 cars a year and 2004 is expected to be another record year. In the first seven months, 111,142 cars have been built, and the plant is now on schedule to top the 174,000 cars produced last year. Dr Anton Heiss, Managing Director of BMW Group Plant Oxford, attributed its success to the ‘commitment and flexibility of the 4,500 employees at the plant’.

Rt. Hon. Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East and Secretary of State for Department of Work and Pensions was at the MINI plant to see the landmark car roll off the production line. He added that it was a ‘great moment for the workforce and the British manufacturing industry’.

While the UK remains the MINI’s number one market, over 75 per cent of the cars built have been exported to 73 different markets worldwide. This reflects the trend towards exports across all car makers, with 69.7 per cent of total output in 2003 going abroad, up from less than 50 per cent in 1995 and just 31 per cent in 1990.

MINI is now the fifth largest car manufacturer in the UK.

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