BMW’s Mini division is celebrating an important milestone. Its historic Oxford, England, factory has just produced the three-millionth car since the brand was successfully re-launched in 2001.
The milestone model is a Clubman John Cooper Works finished in a sporty, eye-catching combination of dark green with a red roof and red stripes on the hood as well as above the rocker panels. It’s fully stock save for a large logo on the roof that identifies it as the three-millionth Mini.
Oxford doesn’t churn out the Mini by itself. Engines are manufactured at the Hams Hall factory near Birmingham, England, while a second factory in Swindon builds components like the body panels and the sub-assemblies. All of the parts are transported to Oxford, where the body shell is built. Each car is then painted, assembled, inspected for quality, and shipped out into the world. Oxford is also where Mini trains its apprentices.
The Oxford factory has been building cars since 1913, and the original Mini was produced there from 1959 to 1968. Today, the plant churns out the two- and four-door variants of the Mini Hardtop and the Clubman. The Convertible is built in a former Volvo factory in Holland.
The first-generation Countryman and the Paceman were built alongside the Mercedes-Benz G-Class in Graz, Austria, by Magna. The Paceman has been deep-sixed due to slow sales, and sources close to Mini have revealed production of the brand-new, second-generation Countryman will be divided between the Oxford factory and the aforementioned Dutch plant.
Mini hasn’t disclosed whether it will add the milestone car to its private collection, or whether it will sell it to a private buyer. For history buffs, the millionth example of the original Mini is displayed in Volkswagen’s Zeithaus collection in Wolfsburg, Germany.
