Photo: MINI
The BMW Group is currently looking to cut down on costs by any means necessary and reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible. In this regard, the extent of work they are doing to prevent melting the ice cap is covering every aspect you can think about.
The big wigs in Munich thought of everything and, believe it or not, they are looking to build additional plants in new, developing countries around to world to make even more profits and drive CO2 emissions down even more. The two might seem totally unrelated but they’re actually not.
That’s because shipping cars all over the world eats up fuel and pollutes, not to mention that it costs more than assembling locally, where you can also benefit from various tax reductions and other incentives. When you’re selling 2 million cars a year, shipping costs start to matter.
In this regard, we heard a couple of rumors in the past surrounding a possible new plant built by BMW on the American continents. Apart from the huge expansion of the Spartanburg plant and the new Brazil factory, the Germans are apparently looking to build a new one in Mexico too, according to Automotive News.
We knew about this prospect too but recent info seems to suggest that the Central American plant might actually be used to build MINIs and not blue and white roundel badged vehicles.
According to the source, Handelsblatt, the company would make a decision on the matter in the second half of the year. However, when we reached out to BMW for comment, all we got was a “no comment” response. Even so, such a move would make sense.
At the moment, despite facing powerful headwinds, the US market is the second largest for MINI vehicles in the world, right behind Europe, including the UK. Assembling the new models over there would be extremely profitable, not to mention that the new UKL platform could be implemented and used for other models in the future as well, as it will be the foundation for all future front-wheel-drive BMW vehicles.
Currently, BMW is building MINIs at the original Oxford plant, in England and, under license, in the Netherlands through their partner, VDL Nedcar. The total output of the two reaches around 300,000 units a year.
That’s because shipping cars all over the world eats up fuel and pollutes, not to mention that it costs more than assembling locally, where you can also benefit from various tax reductions and other incentives. When you’re selling 2 million cars a year, shipping costs start to matter.
In this regard, we heard a couple of rumors in the past surrounding a possible new plant built by BMW on the American continents. Apart from the huge expansion of the Spartanburg plant and the new Brazil factory, the Germans are apparently looking to build a new one in Mexico too, according to Automotive News.
We knew about this prospect too but recent info seems to suggest that the Central American plant might actually be used to build MINIs and not blue and white roundel badged vehicles.
According to the source, Handelsblatt, the company would make a decision on the matter in the second half of the year. However, when we reached out to BMW for comment, all we got was a “no comment” response. Even so, such a move would make sense.
At the moment, despite facing powerful headwinds, the US market is the second largest for MINI vehicles in the world, right behind Europe, including the UK. Assembling the new models over there would be extremely profitable, not to mention that the new UKL platform could be implemented and used for other models in the future as well, as it will be the foundation for all future front-wheel-drive BMW vehicles.
Currently, BMW is building MINIs at the original Oxford plant, in England and, under license, in the Netherlands through their partner, VDL Nedcar. The total output of the two reaches around 300,000 units a year.
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