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February 24, 2005
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This Week:

• BMW at the 75th Geneva Motor Show

• Honda Unveils New Civic And Showcases Technological Innovation At The Geneva Salon

• Double premiere for Mercedes-Benz at the International Motor Show in Geneva

• Nissan Announces New Leadership Team

• Lexus at Geneva Motor Show 2005

• New Name in Porsche's Model Range

• Audi RS 4 - Leadership through Passion

• Ford Vehicles Help Florida Jump Start Its Hydrogen Highway

• MINI Plant Oxford To Expand With New Investment

• Mazda Hydrogen Filling Station Given The Green Light

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MINI Plant Oxford To Expand With New Investment

BMW Group to invest over £100 Million/ $188 Million to Further Optimize Production Capacity

Photo: MINI/BMW

By laying the foundation stone for the body shell production building, which will cover about 15,000 m2 (or about 161,500 square feet), Dr. Norbert Reithofer, Member of the Board, Production, at BMW AG, today signalled the start of preparation for MINI production to meet the future requirements of the brand and the market. "These measures will allow us to react even more flexibly to the high demand for MINI throughout the world. At the same time, we are increasing our flexibility with regards to the production of various MINI model variants", said Reithofer.

Since its market launch in 2001, production figures for the MINI, originally planned at around 100,000 MINI vehicles per year, reached a record level of 189,492 in 2004. The total number of employees has risen to 4,500 to date.

The growth in recent years has been based on continuous efficiency through improvements in the production process and innovative working time models. With company operating times being separated from the employees' personal working times, the Oxford plant has been able to run production for up to 134 hours a week, depending on levels of demand.

Since 2000, the BMW Group has invested a total of £280 million or just over $527 million USD in the production of MINI vehicles in Oxford until today.

(February 16, 2005)