BMW to End Mini Production at Magna Steyr

by TTAC Staff

February 18th, 2014 10:14 PM

bmw to end mini production at magna steyr

MINI Countryman cars being assembled at Magna Steyr’s Austrian facility.

The Kleine Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday that the BMW Group will end contract production of Mini cars by Magna Steyr in 2016. Automotive News reports that the Austrian supplier currently builds the Mini Countryman and Mini Paceman. BMW will move production of the two models to BMW’s own Mini factory in Oxford, England, and to Mitsubishi’s former NedCar facility in the Netherlands, where the Dutch group VDL will start Mini production under contract later this year. Magna Steyr’s corporate parent, Magna International, said in a statement that its relationship with BMW will continue through a new vehicle manufacturing contract.

“The new production program would start following the end of production of the current Mini models Mini Countryman and Mini Paceman being assembled by Magna Steyr in Graz.” No details were given on specific models that Magna Steyr will be assembling under the new contract.

According to the Kleine Zeitung, Magna Steyr’s role will not be to build particular BMW Group cars but rather it will hold capacity for a variety of models as demand dictates. Those would likely be high-volume models like the BMW 5 series and 3 Series cars. The newspaper says that the contract will probably cover a volume of over 100,000 vehicles over 6 to 7 years.

Neither Magna Steyr or BMW has commented on the report.

Magna Steyr currently also assembles vehicles for Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot.

#Austria #BMW #Countryman #MagnaSteyr #Manufacturing #MINI #Paceman

Comments

Join the conversation

2 comments

Deanst on Jan 31, 2014

Magna must have a new contract with some auto maker for production this facility. It was just announced that they have extended their lease at the Thondorf facility in Graz to 2024.

Like Reply
Kristjan Ambroz on Feb 03, 2014

Just a minor correction, about 100k annually, not over the whole lifetime of the project.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

TheEndlessEnigma That's right GM, just keep adding to that list of reasons why I will never buy your products. This, I think, becomes reason number 69, right after OnStar-Cannot-Be-Disabled-And-It-Comes-Standard-Whether-Or-Not-You-Want-It and Screw-You-American-Car-Buyer-We-Only-Make-Trucks-And-SUVs.
3SpeedAutomatic Does this not sound and feel like the dawn of ICE automobiles in the early 20th century, but at double or triple speed speed!!There were a bunch of independent car markers by the late 1910’s. By the mid 20’s, we were dropping down to 10 or 15 producers as Henry was slashing the price of the Model T. The Great Depression hit, and we are down to the big three and several independents. For EVs, Tesla bolted out of the gate, the small three are in a mad dash to keep up. Europe was caught flat footed due to the VW scandal. Lucid, Lordstown, & Rivian are scrambling to up production to generate cash. Now the EV leader has taken a page from the Model T and is slashing prices putting the rest of the EV market in a tail spin. Deja vu……
Michael Eck With those mods, I wonder if it's tuned...
Mike-NB2 I'm not a Jeep guy, but I really, really like the 1978 Jeep Cherokee 4xe concept.
William I'm a big fan of 70s Lincolns. I really liked the 1980s Mark Vl. I thought it was very classy, and I never thought of it as a restyled Town Car. I did own a 1990 LSC, it was black over black leather interior. I loved the LSC as soon as they were introduced. I loved the sound of the duel exhaust, I thought it fit the car perfectly. I never had any problems with it. The 5.0 is a great engine, and never had any issues with the air suspension system. It had the the analog dash and I made good use of the message center. I highly recommend this Mark. The black paint and interior fit the car and me perfectly.