Rede von Harald Krüger, Mitglied des Vorstands der BMW AG, Produktion, anlässlich der Produktion des dreimillionsten MINI im Werk Oxford

Thank you Graham. Good morning everyone and a very warm welcome to Oxford. I’m delighted that you could join us today.

The production of the three-millionth MINI is a historic milestone for the MINI brand, and the global MINI production network, where Plant Oxford is the heart and home.

It’s a special privilege to welcome our distinguished guest, Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today.

We very much appreciate your support of our business activities and your interest in our production operations here in the UK.

Today’s event not only marks the production of a very special car, it also celebrates:

-      The global success of the MINI brand

-      Plant Oxford, which is a key part of our international production network

-      The vital contribution made by our plants in Swindon and Hams Hall, near Birmingham and

-      The UK as an important market and manufacturing base for the BMW Group.

Thank you, and congratulations to Managing Director Frank Bachmann and everyone at Plant Oxford, on this important milestone.

Thank you also to our colleagues at our Hams Hall engine plant and Swindon, where the steel is pressed and sub-assembled. Without them, we wouldn’t be celebrating this milestone here today.

Plant Oxford has played a significant role in MINI’s worldwide success, but of course we would also like to pay tribute to our contract partner Magna Steyr in Graz, who builds the MINI Countryman and MINI Paceman.

And contributing to the future success of MINI is our newest addition to the global MINI production network, Nedcar in Born, The Netherlands. This new location enables us to meet the strong global market demand for this true British icon.

These locations all contribute to a strong and flexible worldwide production network for MINI.

As we expand our network to meet global demand – one thing remains certain. Oxford will remain the international hub and centre of excellence for MINI manufacturing.

MINI has been inspiring customers around the world for 55 years and our intention is to make MINI even more successful in the years ahead.

A vital part of this – in addition to the ongoing commitment of our existing workforce – is the contribution of our talented young apprentices – here in Oxford and at our other UK manufacturing sites.

They are the future of our company! Several hundred are employed at our UK operations, and some of our new intake - which started only two weeks ago - are here with us today.

We take our role as an important industrial player in the UK seriously.

With our four manufacturing facilities, the UK is the only country outside Germany where all three BMW car brands are being manufactured.

And around half of all the parts for the new MINI are sourced in the UK.

While we’re celebrating this milestone, we are also nearing completion of a 750 million pound investment programme which began three years ago in new, state-of-the-art facilities in our MINI UK production network.

This investment ensures the long-term future of around 5,500 people who work in our three production plants at Hams Hall, Swindon and here in Oxford.

Most of the investment has gone towards the upgrade of this plant, making it one of the most advanced vehicle assembly facilities of its kind in the UK.

In Oxford we build around a thousand cars a day. This means that a MINI comes off the line every minute - and four out of every five MINIs are exported.

This underscores the fact that Britain’s favourite small car has become a true global success. And to tell you more about that, I would now like to hand over to my colleague, Peter Schwarzenbauer.

Thank you.