page_title: Mini (marque)
section_title: Development and production
hierarchical_section_title: Mini (marque) / Development and production
caption_attribution_description: English: BMW MINI body plant, Swindon, UK. Swindon Pressings Limited. Complete with wall-mounted MINI.
context_page_description: Mini is a British automotive marque founded in 1969, owned by German automotive company BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars. The word Mini has been used in car model names since 1959, and in 1969 it became a marque in its own right when the name "Mini" replaced the separate "Austin Mini" and "Morris Mini" car model names. BMW acquired the marque in 1994 when it bought Rover Group, which owned Mini, among other brands.
  The original Mini was a line of British small cars manufactured by the British Motor Corporation, which in 1966 became part of British Motor Holdings. This merged with Leyland Motors in 1968 to form British Leyland. In the 1980s, British Leyland was broken-up and in 1988 Rover Group, including Mini, was acquired by British Aerospace. Mini models included the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven, the Countryman, Moke, 1275GT and Clubman. Performance versions of these models used the name Cooper, due to a partnership with racing legend John Cooper. The original Mini continued in production until 2000.
  In 1994, Rover Group was acquired by BMW, being broken up in 2000 with BMW retaining the Mini brand.
context_section_description: Before BMW's ownership, the traditional Mini had been at the Longbridge plant located next to the headquarters of Rover until the sale of the company by BMW in March 2000.
  In the selling of Rover by BMW to Phoenix Venture Holdings, the Longbridge plant was included in the sales contract.
  In time, production was rationalised to just Longbridge and so this was where the last of the cars were made, making Longbridge the "natural home" for the new Mini prior to BMW splitting up the company. However, as a result of the change of ownership, BMW redeveloped the entire Cowley plant, demolishing much of the factory, to create a new factory and renamed this "Plant Oxford", on the site of what was historically the Pressed Steel Company's Cowley Body Plant and next door to what was historically the Morris factory.
  Since 2006, Plant Hams Hall produces the new Mini petrol engines, Plant Oxford is responsible for the body shell production, paint and assembly, and Plant Swindon produces body pressings and sub-assemblies, creating the "Mini Production Triangle". Mini claim that 60% of components of the Mini Mk II come from suppliers based in the UK compared to 40% for the 2001 model. The Countryman is the first modern Mini assembled outside the UK, with the contract won by Magna Steyr in Austria.
  At Plant Oxford 4,000 employees, referred to as "associates", produce up to 800 cars each day (approximately 240,000 per year). The bodyshop at Cowley holds 429 robots, assembling 425 body panels; the bodyshells are then moved to the neighbouring paint shop where paint robots apply the 14 exterior colour options and optional contrasting roof colours. Final assembly is performed at Cowley, which involves the fitting of 2,400 components to produce the numerous variants that may be ordered.
  All Prince four-cylinder petrol engines for Mini and BMW are produced at the Hams Hall Plant near Birmingham, United Kingdom, which has around 800 employees. Diesel engines are manufactured by BMW's Plant Steyr in Austria, having previously been manufactured in France and England by PSA.
  Mini sub-assemblies and pressings such as doors are supplied by the plant at Swindon, where 1,000 are employed and 280 pressed parts are produced using 135 welding robots. The Swindon plant was originally Swindon Pressings Ltd, founded in 1955 by the Pressed Steel Company and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the BMW Group in May 2000.
  Minis are primarily developed in the United Kingdom by BMW's Development Division.
  In 2013, assembly of the Countryman was expanded to three international locations: from April 2013 at BMW's plant near Chennai, India, specifically for the Indian market from June 2013 at the BMW Group Malaysia Assembly Plant in Kulim, Kedah, and at the BMW Manufacturing Thailand plant in Rayong from August 2013. Since 2014 cars have also been assembled under contract by VDL Nedcar near Maastricht in Limburg.
caption: Plant Swindon, the main production site for Mini body pressings and sub-assemblies
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