Mini’s Chief Says U.K. Production Isn’t Critical for Iconic British Brand

BMW AG says its iconic Mini British brand could be made outside England because most buyers don’t care where the cars are made.

Mini brand chief Peter Schwarzenbauer tells Reuters that consumers perceive the brand as British but don't know where its made. He says a more important factor in choosing manufacturing sites is where most of the output will be sold.

Schwarzenbauer downplays the potentially negative impact of the U.K.’s decision to exit the EU as only one of many factors that go into deciding where to build new models. Last month BMW said it might make an electric variant of the Mini in mainland Europe instead of the car’s home plant in Oxford, England. Schwarzenbauer says the decision will come by the end of this year.

BMW already contracts Nedcar to assemble about 30% of its overall Mini output in Born, Netherlands. Mini exports most of its U.K. production to Europe and the U.S.