The new Mini Hardtop may be a little larger but it will be a getting a smaller 3-cylinder engine.
While over-capacity has been a crippling problem for many European automakers, a few are facing quite the opposite issue, largely due to strong export sales. Mini is one of the makers struggling to expand capacity as its growing line-up triggers a sharp growth in demand.
With an all-new version of its original Hardtop model coming to market, the minicar unit of BMW AG is set to add a new plant in the Netherlands, with a major share of its production capacity earmarked for export once it begins production this coming summer.
But rather than building a plant of its own, British-based Mini will use a contract supplier in the Netherlands, VDL Nedcar, which will add 1,500 workers at its factory in Born. Production will supplement the output from the existing Mini factory in Oxford, England.
“Contract production is a vital flexibility tool for us, and our experience gathered over the past ten years has been nothing but positive,” stated Klaus Draeger BMW AG’s Board Member Purchasing and Supplier Network, during a visit to the Nedcar plant in Born. “Splitting production of the new Mini Hatch between Oxford and Born will give our global production network additional leeway.”
(Click Herefor a first look at the new Mini Hardtop JCW.)
Harald Krüger, BMW’s head of production, described the contract with Nedcar as an important step in the implementation of the company’s global growth strategy with the maker aiming to boost sales from all of its various brands to over two million by 2016.
“The MINI brand is showing substantial growth,” said Kruger.” This is why we need additional, external production capacity on top of the capacity of the MINI plant in Oxford which stands at about 260,000 units per year.”
The Nedcar plant was originally created as a joint venture between Mitsubishi Motors and Volvo but has been serving as an independent contract manufacturer in recent years. It’s one of a growing number of independent manufacturing centers, a list that includes Finland’s Valmet and MSF in Graz, Austria, which has also produced cars under contract for Mini.
Despite the turn to Nedcar, “The UK production network is and will remain the heart of Mini production. Splitting production of the new Mini Hardtop between Oxford and Born will give us greater flexibility for other models,” Kruger said.
The VDL Nedcar site offers advantages in terms of logistics and its proximity to the Mini production network with its locations in Oxford, Swindon and Hams Hall in the United Kingdom
This year Mini production volume at VDL Nedcar is anticipated to reach a five-digit range, and could grow if demand for the new Hardtop lives up to expectations. VDL Nedcar staff is getting in-depth training on the BMW Group production system at the BMW plants in Leipzig, Oxford and Regensburg.
(Gen-Y may be ready to buy cars after all. Click Herefor the latest.)
In 2013, 303,177 Mini vehicles were produced, including 175,986 Hatch, Convertible, Clubman, Clubvan, Roadster and Coupé models at Oxford. An additional 125,559 Mini Countryman and Paceman models were built by the contract manufacturer MSF in Graz, Austria. Yet another 1,632 units were produced at other plants.
(Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.)