BMW has already transferred part of the Mini production to the Netherlands
- The BMW group has threatened to transfer the entire production of the Mini from the British plant in Cowley (Oxford) to the Dutch plant in Born if negotiations between Europe and Great Britain on Brexit did not result in an agreement.
- Inovev observes that the German manufacturer has in fact already transferred part of the Mini from Cowley to Born some time ago. Indeed, as early as 2014, when the third generation of the Mini was launched (the first two generations were from 2001 and 2006), part of its production was transferred to the Born plant: 17.5% of the volume of Mini excluding Mini Countryman. This percentage rose to 29% in 2015, 30% in 2017 and 33% in 2018.
- One third of the Mini cars are now manufactured at the Nedcar site in Born, in addition to the Countryman cars that are produced in their entirety. In fact, the Born site produced a volume of 172,307 Mini and Mini Countryman in 2018, while the Cowley site (historic site of the former Morris brand) produced 189,676 units.
- If BMW decided to close the Cowley plant following a Brexit without an agreement, it would probably be difficult to transfer nearly 190,000 Mini to Born, as the Dutch plant would then have to produce more than 350,000 cars per year, which is impossible. The most likely scenario therefore remains a transfer to the plant that BMW is building in Debrecen, Hungary.
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