In celebration of twenty successful years of modern Mini production, HRH the Prince of Wales visited the home of the brand at Mini Plant Oxford yesterday, to meet the people behind the cars and to get an insight into the manufacturing processes and developments the company has made in sustainable production.

The Prince of Wales toured the site’s assembly hall, where he was able to meet some of the 130 apprentices, as well as staff that were closely involved in integrating the manufacturing of the Mini Electric onto the standard production line, making Oxford the first BMW Group plant in the world to build fully electric and combustion cars on the same production line.

The Mini Electric was launched internationally in 2020 and has proved to be so popular that production is set to double in 2021. The Prince of Wales drove a Mini Electric off the production line as part of his visit and was introduced to members of the Mini team whose families have worked at the plant over a number of generations, across the decades.

Manufacturing milestone
Peter Weber, Plant Oxford managing director, said: “It was an absolute honour and pleasure to welcome the Prince of Wales to the heart of the Mini brand here in Oxford and we were delighted that he could join us to mark this important manufacturing milestone.

“Over the past twenty years, the commitment and passion of our associates, nearly a quarter of whom were with us when the first car rolled off the line in 2001, has helped to strengthen Mini’s reputation around the world.

“It is fantastic for this special celebration to have been be recognised with such a memorable royal visit. It was a real highlight to see the Prince of Wales drive one of our Mini Electrics off the production line.”

Mini Plant Oxford has been at the heart of its community for over 108 years and employs over 3,700 highly skilled staff and apprentices, who together build 1,000 Minis a day - one every 67sec.

Mini will be the first BMW Group brand to go fully electric by the early 2030s. Plant Oxford has played a pivotal role in making Mini production more sustainable over the past 20 years and will continue to do so as it plays an important part in BMW Group’s strategy to reduce emissions from its production plants globally by 80% by 2030, compared to 2019.