MINI Plant Expansion in the Works?

Auto News has a story today about the next generation MINI and how it will effect capacity at the current plant. It's interesting that even enormous success brings problems. Here are some excerpts:

BMW's next generation Mini will be built from a more flexible platform which will support four or five different body styles, according to Mini UK general manager Trevor Houghton-Berry.

Design studies for a two-seater coupe cabriolet had been considered while the current cabriolet was under development, he said.

Mini's worldwide commercial success over the last three years, had opened up “a host of exciting possibilities” for the future, said Houghton-Berry. These could include an estate built on a stretched wheelbase.

For this year, the cabriolet is virtually sold out. The Birmingham motor show had generated “an explosion of interest” and the UK's allocation of 6,500 was accounted for with the exception of a few hundred cars when the cabriolet goes on sale on June 26.

With the Oxford plant, a one-time Rover large car facility, already working three shifts, seven days a week, a decision was imminent on whether to increase capacity beyond 180,000 a year. “As ever the paint shop is the bottleneck and Munich is studying a number of possible solutions,” said Houghton-Berry.

The plant was designed to build 125,000 cars a year but demand from 73 markets had far exceeded expectation.

The UK is still the number one market, with 40,500 annual sales. The USA is next with around 35,000 and Houghton-Berry said he expected the USA to overtake the UK in the next couple of years.

You can read the entire article here.