Built in Britain Not Essential to MINI Brand

Building in Britain is not essential to BMW’s Mini brand as most customers do not know where the compact cars are built and its new electric model could be made elsewhere, the brand’s boss told Reuters on Tuesday.

Built in Britain Not Essential to MINI Brand - Peter Schwarzenbauer, memeber of the Board of Management of BMW AG, introduces the 2017 Mini Countryman, all-wheel drive version, at the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show in Los Angeles, California, U.S November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Peter Schwarzenbauer said the German carmaker would decide by the end of 2017 whether to build the new electric model at an existing site in Britain or the Netherlands, or whether to pick a new location.

The BMW board member said the possibility of post-Brexit tariffs was “only one point … when you have to decide where to produce a car” and the first question was where the model would be primarily sold.

But asked whether it really mattered to British or foreign buyers that the Mini, sometimes sold with the image of the union flag on the roof, is made in Britain, Schwarzenbauer said:

No. The brand being perceived as British, that’s important but this does not mean necessarily that you have to produce it (in Britain).

Most people don’t know where the cars are produced.

Mini makes around 70 percent of its 360,000 cars at its southern English Oxford plant but there are concerns that uncertainty over Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU could hurt the UK car industry, reliant on tariff-free trade.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said Britain will leave the EU’s single market and could also exit the customs union but she would seek to maintain the best possible access to the EU, the British car sector’s biggest export market.

Note: Part of this article originally appeared on Channel News Asia.

 

Staff

5 Comments

  1. George doesn’t sound like a typical MINI owner, most of whom (the enthusiasts at least) are well aware the they are built by BMW and even that the Countryman was built by Magna Steyr in the quaint Olde Englishe village of Graz. Jaguar/Land Rover was resurrected by Tata of India and is ten times the company it was under British Leyland or even Ford. MG was purchased by the Chinese and after trying to continue in the UK will no longer be built in the UK. Should Americans be up in arms that Buicks are now mainly built in China?

  2. If you’re talking about the US market, I would guess that there’s at least a 1 to 100 ratio between Classics & New owners – and the majority of Classics owners also own at least one New or did (at least in my experience). It might be blasphemy but don’t forget the original Classic, sans John Cooper’s magic, was terrible! I learnt to drive on one but it had been modified with discs so it would at least stop when required.

Comments are closed.