Andrew*Debbie
10-11-2009, 12:35 PM
An article in last Sunday's Independent says BMW will be building some MINI models at Regensburg rather then expand Plant Oxford.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/booming-mini-demand-to-be-fed-by-extra-production-in-germany-1797239.html
Cowley, the Oxford plant that is one of the UK's biggest remaining car factories, cannot meet demand for all the new vehicles, including the new Coupe and the Roadster. It builds around 200,000 cars annually but the launch of the new Minis means the plant will soon exhaust capacity and a new production line will be needed.
Mini's owner, BMW, is thought to be looking at production at its state-of-the-art Regensburg plant where three million BMWs have now been assembled by its 10,000 workers. It is likely to add capacity there rather than in Oxford because of currency exchange rates and other costs that will make it more competitive.
Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW's head of car production, said: "In the longer term, given the strong growth of the Mini brand, we will have to think about a further production site. We could imagine a German factory for the production of Mini-based models."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/booming-mini-demand-to-be-fed-by-extra-production-in-germany-1797239.html
Cowley, the Oxford plant that is one of the UK's biggest remaining car factories, cannot meet demand for all the new vehicles, including the new Coupe and the Roadster. It builds around 200,000 cars annually but the launch of the new Minis means the plant will soon exhaust capacity and a new production line will be needed.
Mini's owner, BMW, is thought to be looking at production at its state-of-the-art Regensburg plant where three million BMWs have now been assembled by its 10,000 workers. It is likely to add capacity there rather than in Oxford because of currency exchange rates and other costs that will make it more competitive.
Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW's head of car production, said: "In the longer term, given the strong growth of the Mini brand, we will have to think about a further production site. We could imagine a German factory for the production of Mini-based models."
