Here's some interesting news from the Belfast Telegraph:
The German car maker BMW is close to deciding on a major expansion of its Mini plant in Oxford to cope with booming demand for the iconic car.
Production this year is expected to exceed 180,000, boosted by the launch in July of a convertible version of the car. But output cannot grow much beyond that because the plant's paint shop is already working almost at full capacity.
BMW executives have ambitious plans for further variants of the Mini, ranging from a sports utility model to a five-door Mini traveller or estate. They believe there is no reason why the brand cannot be extended in the same way that the BMW marque itself has grown to encompass a wide variety of models.
Michael Ganal, the BMW board member for sales and marketing, said the group was now “pretty close” to a decision on the expansion of Oxford.
He said:
“We believe the Mini family has to grow.”
For more information about the current MINI plant you may want to check out this: Detailed Account of the MINI Plant Tour.
<p>Thanks Matt for the heads-up on the link.</p>
<p>BMW brass has made it clear very recently that no SUV spinoffs will show up in MINI showrooms. However, I am very pleased to hear that they are considering launching a 5 door station wagon rendition of the classic Traveller model. </p>
<p>Upon launching of the MINI in 2001, the Oxford plant had a total worldwide production capacity of 100,000 vehicles annually. At the current 180,000+ vehicles it is evident these people are bursting at their seams, so there are only 2 ways to address the problem if they envision adding more variants to the marque: </p>
<p>1) Expand the current manufacturing facilities at Oxford </p>
<p>2) Build another MINI plant in the UK (Or elsewhere) to take up on the extra production demand and/or accomodate for the new future models. </p>
<p>Very exciting news.</p>
<p>In seemlingly unrelated news (via Automotive News Europe): </p>
<p><em>“BMW plans to further expand its US assembly plant to build 200,000 units annually and add a third model.</p>
<p>Last year 109,501 X5 SUVs and 56,589 Z4 roadsters were built at the plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a production record.</p>
<p>Norbert Reithofer, BMW's head of production, said it is “very unlikely” the plant will build only two models forever.</p>
<p>About 40 percent of the cars built at Spartanburg are sold in the US.</p>
<p>But Spartanburg plant manager Helmut Leube said any expansion will not happen soon.</p>
<p>“First we have to be able to cope with the amount of growth we had during the past few years,” he said.</p>
<p>Leube said Spartanburg has the same level of flexibility as BMW's German plants in Dingolfing, Regensburg and Munich and can compete for the production of future models.</p>
<p>He added that Spartanburg matches the quality of BMW models built in Germany.”</em></p>
<p>Not that I'm implying anything but… that would be one way of dealing with currency issues that BMW is facing.</p>
<p>Exactly my point. Either they will have to expand Oxford to accomodate an extra 100K cars per year or open up a new plant elsewhere. Just imagine MINIs being built in Bavaria or France…</p>
<p>the five door wagon you refer to, according to a the service manager at yaletown mini, fresh back from a 'meeting/training' in the east, is the turbocharged all wheel drive traveller proposed for 2007. let's hope they address the issue of gas mileage…</p>
<p>2007 is still 3 years away. I still stand by my comments on that BMW is making a catastrophic mistake by delaying the Traveller wagon's release until that date.</p>
<p>They are just giving the competition ample space and time to capture this market (Like Scion is doing with the 5 door Xb).</p>
<p>And in other BMW expansion news…</p>
<p><a href="http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cfm/newsid/2040511.002/bmw/1.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.germancarfans.com/news.cfm/newsid/2040511.002/bmw/1.html</a></p>
<p>I agree with Frank. Given the recent spoike in oil prices and the increased focus on efficiency, a 5-door Traveller makes a lot of sense. Why not farm production out to a 3rd party, like Valmet or Pinninfarina? </p>
<p>BMW did that with the original 3-series cabrio – they were not sure of the demand and it was going to take time to get their own production facilities ramped up. So they used Baur for the initial 3-series cab.</p>
<p>If BMW followed this route, they could have a quality 5-door Traveller out there by the end of 2005, assuming the design is close to finalized…</p>
<p>There is an aftermarket conversion company called “Carrozzeria Castagna” located in Milan, Italy. They have already made some conversion MiniWagons as shown in the link below:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/search.php?search=castagna" rel="ugc">https://www.motoringfile.com/search.php?search=castagna</a></p>
<p>These were regular 3 door MINIs that were stretched a few inches in the back to creat more rear passenger leg room and a slightly bigger boot cargo area.</p>
<p>I think BMW has closely monitored public reaction to these wagons in events such as the Geneva Autoshow.</p>
<p>I remember reading (I think in MINI2.com) that while the Castagna conversion look neat they did not look very well polished up close and in person.</p>
<p>Still a very interesting 'insight' into what a BMW made MINI Traveller wagon may look like. The real challenge would be to add a pair of rear doors with suicide type opening.</p>
<p>I doubt Castagna has the ability to churn out these wagons in massive numbers so basically the ball is in BMW's court at this time to see if they want to get down and dirty and make this 3rd variant a reality sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>If MINI waits until 2007 (R56 platform) to release the Traveller, they would have already given out on a Silver Platter the increasingly small wagon market. Look Scion already has the xA and xB models. Mazda will soon release a MINI sized 5 door hatchback to penetrate in MINI's market head on with a 5 door alternative….</p>
<p>So will BMW/MINI will allow themselves to be caught off guard this time around?? We shall see.</p>
<p>Now that the Cabrio project is done and out of the way, MINI needs to put the Traveller at the very top of the the project list. Delaying this car could be costly and a big mistake.</p>