BMW Chief Executive Helmut Panke said at the company’s annual shareholders meeting today that it would build a convertible version of its Mini. Panke also said that the car should be on the market by the middle of 2004.
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“I can confirm we’re expanding the Mini product programme to include a four-seater cabriolet as we want to capture new customers in the open-top, small-car market,” Panke said.
There has been speculation in the industry that BMW’s Mini brand would see a number of new body variants released after the launch phase for the initial models was complete.
Helmut Panke recently said that production plans for the Mini at its Oxford plant could be ramped up as far as 180,000 units in the future. The company built around 160,000 units last year.
Doubts persist over profitability, although BMW maintains that sales of Minis are profitable, helped by the success of the higher margin variants such as the Cooper S.
