The All New Mk3 Mini

A recent report on the Chinese automotive industry has highlighted the prospect of an all new BMW Mini manufacturing suite. The report stated that the new Mini range along with the front wheel drive models at BMW will be built in the Tiexi plant in Shenyang, from 2015.

BMW are believed to have already allocated a certain amount of area at the Tiexi plant for a big expansion in production in the Chinese automotive industry. The demand for the Mini in China has gone through the roof in the period between 2010 and the end of 2012. China itself is now the fourth biggest market for the Mini range in the world.

A couple of years ago, BBC motoring show Top Gear highlighted how the Chinese automotive industry looked to replicate other successful models around Europe. The Mini Cooper amongst the BMW X5 were models that were replicated by various Chinese companies which only led to the increase in demand for the authentic and genuine Mini models.

The Chinese economy is one that is consistently growing and the growth in the automotive industry is one that has come as a pleasant surprise for mass market manufacturers such as BMW and MINI. Success in the European car market is one that has been the corner stone of any successful manufacturer in the last two decades or so, however, in the last 12 months and more, the European car market has somewhat disintegrated and demand is now non existent for various models on the market.

The current economic climate in the European economy has led to the specific focus of certain models towards the growing economies of China and the US. The US firm Ford had the most successful year of sales and profits in 2012 due to its specific focus on the US and its success in the only growing market in Europe, the UK. BMW and Mini have therefore looked at the success of the Ford models as an example of how to operate in the Chinese market.