Mini Expands in U.K., Signals Plan to Use NedCar Plant

BMW AG says its Mini brand will invest 250 million (€315 million) in the U.K. through the end of 2015.

The company will expand its assembly facility in Oxford, which currently has annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles. Mini also plans to update its stamping operations in Swindon and prepare for a new generation of engines at Hams Hall.

The latest investment is in addition to the 500 million that BMW said last year it would spend on Mini in the U.K. by 2014.

BMW also confirms it is likely to further boost Mini capacity by having a contract manufacturer assemble vehicles at Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s NedCar factory in the Netherlands. Earlier news reports said Mini production at NedCar could begin by 2014.

MMC, which has been looking for a buyer for the factory, said in February it plans to stop building its own vehicles at the plant by year-end.