Mini is marking two production milestones this month, as the iconic small car’s past and present combine for a dual celebration.
The Mini plant in Oxford, England, will lead celebrations for 100 years of production in the precinct when, on March 28, 2013, it will be exactly a century since production of the first “Bullnose” Morris Oxford began in 1913, only a few hundred metres from the modern Mini plant.
Just 20 cars were built each week when William Morris first started production at the plant. From humble beginnings, the total production number has grown to 11.65 million cars, with Plant Oxford now employing 3700 workers who manufacture up to 900 Mini vehicles per day.
Now owned by BMW, Plant Oxford has seen a vast array of marques leave its doors including MG, Wolseley, Riley, Austin, Austin Healey, Vanden Plas, Princess, Triumph, Rover, Sterling, Honda and, of course, Morris. The Mini, too, under the British Motor Corporation, started its life at the plant in 1959.
Today, Plant Oxford produces the Mini hatch, convertible, Clubman, Clubvan, Roadster and Coupe.
The Mini Countryman is produced at the company’s Graz plant in Austria, which itself is celebrating a production milestone with its 250,000th Countryman rolling off the assembly line this week.
The 250,000th Countryman model comes just after the start of Mini Paceman production, the brand’s seventh model in its ever-expanding line-up.