Mini to be made in India

Following growing global demand for its Mini range, owners BMW have announced that the iconic marque will be produced outside Europe for the first time later this year to cater for growth markets in other continents. This is in line with BMW's "production follows the market" strategy.

The first example of this will be at the BMW plant in Chennai, India and comes only one year after Mini began selling in India. The first models to be produced will be the Mini Cooper D Countryman and the Mini One Countryman.

BMW’s plant at Chennai was built in 2007 and operates to the German company’s high standards of quality manufacturing. The plant, which has a production area of 13000 square metres (140,000 sq. ft), has already produced BMW 3 and 5 series and BMW X1 and X3 models.