After some difficult times at the beginning of 2000, Mini managed to get back on track with the help of its parent company, BMW. Now the MINI brand and BMW Group’s UK manufacturing plants in Oxford and Swindon are celebrating twenty successful years of MINI production. In early 2001, production began for MINI body parts in Swindon and on the 26th April that same year, the first new MINI rolled off the line in Oxford.
Over the past two decades, MINI has built over 5 million cars in the UK. Plant Oxford currently builds the MINI 3-Door Hatch, MINI 5-Door Hatch, MINI Clubman and the MINI Electric, all on the same production line.
MINI Plants Oxford and Swindon employ over 4,500 highly-skilled employees, including 130 apprentices, who all keep production moving to build 1000 MINI a day – one every 67 seconds.
Plants Oxford and Swindon have been at the heart of their communities for a very long time – 108 and 65 years respectively. In recent years, Plant Oxford has become a must-see tourist destination with 26,000 MINI fans enjoying the award-winning Plant Tours.
With the MINI Electric going into production in 2020, Plant Oxford is already electrified and in the early 2030s, MINI will be the first BMW Group brand to go fully electric. Plants Oxford and Swindon have played a pivotal role in making MINI production more sustainable over the past 20 years and are vital to the BMW Group’s strategy to further reduce emissions.
