With the launch of the Roadster and Coupoe MINI expects to break last year's sales record of 285,000 vehicles.
Car and Van News has some interesting tidbits in its article such as:
The Oxford plant, which builds five of the six MINI ranges, is almost at its maximum of 200,000 cars a year. The remaining model, the Countryman, is made at the Steyr factory in Austria.
Facilities at Oxford are currently being extended ready for the new MINI hatch in 2013 and the brand’s product and planning manager Dave Tuckett is confident that 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,” Tuckett says.
The hatch is currently the best-selling model, claiming close to half of MINI sales, with the larger family-sized Countryman taking 22 per cent.
The popularity of diesel MINIs has also increased dramatically, by 60 per cent, so far this year thanks to the introduction of the new tax-beating 99g/km versions during 2011. Diesels now account for 46 per cent of all MINI sales.
