As the ‘new’ BMW Mini enters its 10th year, here are 10 things you didn’t know about how and where it is made.
- Plant Oxford, where the Mini is built, is the second largest car production facility in the UK.
The factory cost 230 million Euros to build.
About 3,500 Minis are produced there every week.
About 80 per cent of these are exported – adding 2.6 billion to total UK exports.
The Mini paintshop is the size of 12 full size football pitches and contains 20 kilometres of conveyor belts.
BMW Mini employs around 5,500 people at plants in Britain. Another 50,000 are directly or indirectly employed in the supply chain.
It takes 10 hours to paint a Mini.
The dimensions of the Mini body shell are tested to an accuracy of 0.05mm – half the width of a human hair.
On the assembly line 2,415 different parts are mounted to the Mini bodyshell.
The Mini plant has its own railway line to transport cars to Purfleet on the Thames estuary. From there they are shipped to mainland Europe and other destinations.