BMW UK says the flexibility of its British workforce in a challenging economic climate led it to sink GBP500m (US$791m) into future Mini investment.
That same workforce recently flexed its muscles by threatening strike action in a pay dispute at the car’s Oxford base, but it appears harmony has broken out as BMW looks to invest its cash for the Mini line during a three-year period.
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“The thing that is attractive about BMW to the UK is the flexibility of the workforce that has acted in our favour,” BMW UK managing director, Tim Abbott told just-auto at this week’s 640d Gran Coupe launch event in France.
“We obviously had the industrial dispute – that is resolved. We are not alone – Ford has had its issues around pensions. We are looking to build more Minis and put in a second line and show further investment that we committed last year – GBP500m is specifically earmarked for the UK.”
The BMW chief characterised current industrial relations as “very good” following the pay dispute at its Mini Oxford plant that saw unions reject the automaker’s offer deriding it as having “more strings than a puppet show.”
As Abbott outlined his thoughts to just-auto, news filtered through of General Motors’ decision to build the next Opel/Vauxhall Astra at its UK plant in Ellesmere Port – a move likely to create 700 jobs directly and also in the British supply chain – a key factor for the German automaker.
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By GlobalData“We are very supportive of inward investment in the supply chain and the [UK] government has said it would like to do more,” said Abbott. “We will source locally where it works for us and where it works for the supply chain.”
Abbott added BMW’s UK staffing levels were “probably where we need to be” but praised the workforce for its flexibility when numbers needed to be reduced.
“What I see are very good relations and open discussions – people are sitting round the table,” he said. “When you are looking at flexing up and down [the] workforce, if you don’t have good relations, that would not happen.”
Those same industrial relations were given a fillip recently with BMW saying it was confident Mini sales would exceed last year’s record of 285,000 models.
The increase – up 12% globally in 2011 and 14% in the UK – is pushing production capacity to the limit with the Oxford plant which builds five of the six model lines almost at its maximum of 200,000 cars a year. The remaining model, the Countryman, is made at the Steyr factory in Austria.
However, the manufacturer says it remains confident a further 50,000 in production capacity will be found from Oxford, as well as more from Steyr.
Facilities at Oxford are currently being extended ready for a redesigned hatchback line in 2013.
