Three millionth Plant Oxford-built Mini rolls off the production line

Mini has celebrated the three millionth car to be built at its Plant Oxford facility since production began in 2001. The landmark car was a John Cooper Works Mini Clubman.

Now in its 15th year of operation, Plant Oxford handles body shell production, paint and final assembly of parts sourced from Hams Hall, which makes engines, and Swindon, which produces body pressings and sub-assemblies.

The workforce was joined by BMW’s production boss Oliver Zipse to celebrate the milestone.

Frank Bachmann, managing director of Plant Oxford, said: “Hitting this milestone is a fantastic achievement for everyone on the team here at Oxford. Building the volume of high-quality cars that we have over the past 15 years is something everyone working here can be very proud of.”

Models built at Oxford include three and five door MINI Hatch, the MINI Clubman and the high-performance MINI John Cooper Works Hatch.

In 2001 the plant was able to produce around 300 cars per day, but today Plant Oxford’s 4500-strong workforce can build almost 1000. Around 80 per cent of MINIs built here are exported to more than 110 markets across the world.

Mini hit two million cars produced at Plant Oxford in 2014. That car, a Volcanic Orange Mini Hatch, was sold to a customer in Japan.