BMW to invest 500mn pounds in UK on new Mini

LONDON: German carmaker BMW will invest 500 million pounds ($819 million) in Britain over the next three years, mostly on facilities to build next-generation Minis.

"We have started preparing our UK plants for production of the next generation Mini and this investment underlines that the UK will remain the heart of Mini production," BMW said on Thursday.

Most of the investment will be spent creating new production facilities and equipment at the Mini plant in Oxford, helping safeguard 5,000 jobs.

Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the announcement which came the day after Japanese group Nissan Motor said it would invest 192 million pounds in Britain on the next version of its Qashqai model.

"The production and export of iconinc British cars like the Mini is making a real contribution to the rebalancing of the economy that this government is determined to achieve," he said.

The announcements by BMW and Nissan fit with the government strategy of trying to lift manufacturing as the country struggles to recover from the financial crisis and ensuing recession. Manufacturing makes up 13 percent of the economy.

Business secretary Vince Cable will visit Detroit next week where he will meet executives from Ford and General Motors to press the case for further investment in Britain. Cable had talks with Nissan executives in Japan last week.

Although the car industry in Britain is now largely foreign owned, it still employs more than 700,000 and accounts for more than 10 percent of exports -- an annual value of around 25 billion pounds.

Copyright Reuters, 2011