The automotive company confirmed also that the UK will be a production location for its next-generation MINI models.
According to BMW, this takes the company’s investment across all its UK operations to more than £1.5bn since 2000.
‘We have started preparing our UK plants for production of the next-generation MINI and this investment underlines that the UK will remain the heart of MINI production,’ said Norbert Reithofer, chairman of the board of management of BMW. ‘The MINI brand has made a significant contribution to BMW Group’s success in markets around the world and we anticipate that this will grow further in the future.’
The investment, the majority of which will be used to create new production facilities and equipment at MINI Plant Oxford, will help to safeguard more than 5,000 jobs in the MINI vehicle assembly plant in Oxford, a pressings plant in Swindon and the company’s engine plant at Hams Hall near Birmingham.
‘I welcome this major investment by BMW Group in UK manufacturing,’ said prime minister David Cameron. ‘It’s a tremendous vote of confidence in the skills and capabilities of the company’s British workforce and in the future of UK manufacturing.’
As part of the expansion of the MINI product line-up, the MINI Coupé will be launched in 2011, followed by the MINI Roadster in 2012 — both of which will be produced in Oxford.
Viking Link connects UK and Danish grids
These underwater links must, based on experience with gas pipelines, be vulnerable to sabotage by hostile powers. Excessive dependency on them could...