With the new two-seater roadster expanding the model range to six, and five new markets to be added during the course of 2012 – India, Nigeria, Armenia, Bolivia and Azerbaijan – BMW’s Mini brand is confident of exceeding last year’s sales record of 285,000.
This growth – up 12% globally in 2011, and 14% in the UK – is stretching production capacity to the limit, however. The Oxford plant which builds five of the six model lines is almost at its maximum of 200,000 cars a year. The remaining model, the Countryman, is made at the Steyr factory in Austria.
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Product and planning manager Dave Tuckett is confident more capacity will be found to cater for the growing demand. “I think we will be able to get another 50,000 cars a year out of Oxford, and an increase in production at Steyr,” he said. Facilities at Oxford are currently being extended ready for a redesigned hatchback line in 2013.
Here in the UK, the hatchback is currently the best-selling model, claiming close to half of sales with the larger, family-sized Countryman taking 22%. The popularity of diesel models has also increased dramatically, by 60%, so far this year thanks to the introduction of the new UK tax-beating 99g/km versions during 2011. Diesels now account for 46% of all UK sales.
