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MINI Plant Oxford Celebrates 3-Millionth Car Produced

The Longbridge plant in Birmingham closed its doors in 2000, putting an end to the original Mini after more than 5 million were made, so the BMW Group took the brand into the 21st century with the 2001 MINI. Since then, Plant Oxford took over assembly duties from the divested Longbridge. 15 years later, the Oxford factory is proud to have built 3 million MINI vehicles.
3 millionth Oxford-built MINI 7 photos
Photo: MINI
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The three-millionth car built in Oxford is a John Cooper Works Clubman, the most exciting variant of the six-door family car. As of December 2016, the proud men and women working at the Oxford plant handle body shell production, paint, and assembly of the three- and five-door Hatch and Clubman. Production of the Countryman will switch over from Magna Steyr's plant in Austria to Oxford in the UK for the second generation of the model.

Powertrains, apart from the battery pack and electric motor of the Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 PHEV that are manufactured in Germany by BMW, are produced at the Hams Hall factory. MINI produces body pressings and other bits and bobs such as the doors, hoods, and tailgates at the Swindon Plant.

The 3-millionth MINI produced at Oxford followed merely two years after the 2-millionth rolled off the assembly line in 2014. At the present moment, MINI Plant Oxford employs 4,500 people capable of assembling 1,000 cars each day. Approximately 80 percent of the vehicles produced at the Oxford Plant are exported by the British automaker in more than 110 markets as far away from the United Kingdom as the Cayman Islands, Guyana, and Azerbaijan.

After production of the all-new Countryman commences in Oxford, the MINI brand will add two more models to the lineup. CEO Peter Schwarzenbauer made it clear that MINI’s future depends on five core models, yet not much about is known about the latter two. Latest reports suggest the fourth and fifth models will come in the form of a two-seater city car inspired by the Rocketman Concept and a four-door sedan referred to as the Riley.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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