R56 Cooper S Production Delay

Sections: R56 (Hatch) Dec 25th, 2006 29 Comments

Over the last week or two we’ve heard from serveral sources about rumored production delays at the Oxford plant. But until now we hadn’t been able to confirm exactly what the issues were and what cars were affected (if any).

However we’ve just learned from a source in Oxford that there there has indeed been a major hold up in the delivery of some R56 models. This massive hold up is due to leaking fuel pumps on Cooper S models with around 3000 affected cars. With the plant now closed until the 2nd of January (for the Christmas & New Year holiday) and with the re-work area full to bursting, it’ll be a while yet until the problem is resolved.

So for all those waiting for a Cooper S that’s currently in the manufacturing process, you’re wait may have just gotten a little longer. However it’s worth noting that this shouldn’t really affect MINI production for the US launch of the R56.

Written By: Gabe

FrankInMiami

Good call on MINI to halt the production line in order to fix the leaking fuel pumps. That decision only tells me that quality control is working as it should.

The R56 is a first year car and I am sure this will not be the last of the QC related snafus.

There was already a recall in the UK for R56 MINIs whose cruise control/stereo audio cables would snap out of place when using the telescopic adjustment feature in the steering wheel.

Merry Christmas to all!
Sam

Wow ! I was told my MCS was due early Feb. in Miami. What kinf of delay does this mean ? 2 weeks ? 1 month ?
FrankInMiami

Sam, who is your dealer? Braman or South Motors?

Don’t forget to check us out: http://www.minisofmiami.com
Sam

Braman.
Sam

Frank,

what have you heard on the delay ? we were told yesterday that everything is up to date.
FrankInMiami

No, but I will be happy to find out for you tomorrow.
http://www.shorer.com Ed.

I ordered an R56 MCS the day the dealer (in So. Calif.) was given the OK to take orders. I was told it would be in by the end of February. I wonder if different parts of the country will be getting the first deliveries so far apart. Any ideas?
Billy

Good call on MINI to halt the production line in order to fix the leaking fuel pumps. That decision only tells me that quality control is working as it should.

As nice as it would be to think that BMW and Mini sincerely care about their customers, the halt in production is soley down to our Christmas holiday! – Which might I add isn’t nearly enough! The line speed at Oxford has recently risen to 46 per hour from 42 previously – and only 38 per hour the year before, and then the men at the top wonder why and worry when things go dreadfully wrong! Jobs are most definately more difficult with the rise in line speed so associates are rushing all day long, so no wonder mistakes are made.
http://www.northamericanmotoring.com Dave

So basically production has gone up by over 20% (46 vs. 38) AND a totally new car is being made at the elevated levels.

No surprises then when things go wrong, especially when they should be expected to in the first year.

Dave former Pre-spec 2002 MCS owner
http://www.northamericanmotoring.com Dave

Ed: cars may arrive at dealers before the official launch, but the dealers need to go through training and the cars will not be released to customers until the (Gabe correct me if I’m wrong) February 17th launch date.
http://www.kurtcollins.com krut

My car moved from first week of production to third week of production. I would imagine it’s only a two week delay. Not a big deal.
http://www.shorer.com Ed.

krut, Are you following progress on the Order Tracking site, or is there somewhere else you’re getting your info on the state of things?
Vanwall

Never fly the ‘A’ model, ‘zwhat I heard. :-)

Rectification, as it was known in the bad old BL days when a fair portion of “finished” product had actually never left the factory floor and was being re-”finished” at considerable extra cost to the bottom line, was what helped doom the British car industry, to say nothing of the not-so-minor oopsies that some of the early owners were subjected to – always nice to have the floor plates welded right way round, and such. Wonderful to see a pro-active system catching the glitches before they were, say, brewing up on the roadside. Carry on, lads.

BCNU, Rob in Dago
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driverphil

Having a fuel pump leakage problem might be due to faulty parts rather than line speed.
http://www.kurtcollins.com krut

found out from the dealer tracking system that I moved from first week of production to third week of production.
LL

Hm… wondering whether I should be concerned with my order — reminds me of my experience with my dearler-stock 2002 Mini… Oh well. I’m waiting with one eye closed and crossing my fingers. ;-P

I agree with driverphil, we don’t know what the cause of the problem is… could be faulty parts, minor manufacturing errors (disconcerting), major manufacturing booboo (let’s hope not), or it could be design flaw (ooo, I really hope not).

On the other hand, I’m not sure when my baby is arriving — my dealer only said March… I figure east coast always get things before west coast — they only have to cross the pond. For those of us on the west coast, delivery has to either trek through the continent or go south of the border before final arrival.
Sam

Frank…news today ?
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JPM

Gabe,

Have you heard of any other delays as far as specific options or packages go? I’ve been told the Audio package is being pushed back as well, and HyperSport is now summer 07. Is anything else looming out there?
Kevin Bacon

My UK Cooper S was delayed from mid December to the new year. The car has been built, but is awaiting a fix. There was no news at Mini dealers until Mini customer services sent out email to several people on Friday 22nd December:

” I can confirm that through MINI’s ongoing and thorough testing processes it was recently discovered that a batch of fuel pumps fitted to some of new MINI Cooper S models was faulty. This issue has now been rectified and production is back to normal at Plant Oxford. Most of the affected MINIs in the UK were either held at Plant Oxford or at MINI dealerships and are being rectified.

All our investigations suggest that performance and safety are not affected. MINI apologises for this inconvenience at a time when demand and expectations for the new model are so high.

I trust that this information is useful to you. “

Someone isn’t telling the truth here….. Hope to find out the situation when my dealer is back to work in Jan.
Adam

Makes sense to me… The news hit MF a bit slow this has been known on MINI2 for a while and a lot of members on MINI2 are reporting that they are receiving there MINI’s during the New Year so it shouldnt be an issue in the US since most of our production didn’t kick in until after this incident was fixed.. small delays I bet but nothing drastic.
http://www.motoringfile.com/ Gabe

Makes sense to meÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã‚Â¦ The news hit MF a bit slow this has been known on MINI2 for a while and a lot of members on MINI2 are reporting that they are receiving there MINIÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s during the New Year so it shouldnt be an issue in the US since most of our production didnÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t kick in until after this incident was fixed..

Yes this shouldn’t affect US production. And like many out there we’ve known about this for a few weeks but never had it confirmed from internal sources as the actual problem until a few days ago (due to the holidays).
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http://www.mini2.info cremi

Fine! :/

My R56 Cooper S has been produced on Dec. 5th. It should have been deliverd in the week before christmas … would have been a nice christmas gift for me.

Hope they get that fuel pumps fixed quickly.
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manu

This delay might help me deciding : I’m just about to order my R56 Cooper S and was wondering if I should go for Sport Suspension or not ? Most of the reviews I had a look at kind of make me feel I should go for normal suspension with 17″ wheels…
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