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MINI celebrates 100 years of car production in Oxford

MINI will be celebrating a century of car production in Oxford on 28th March 2013, 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford was produced. It’s 100 years since the first Bullnose Morris Oxford rolled out on 28th March 1903, since when 11,655,000 cars have been built – with as many as 28,000 people employed in its heyday – and even Tiger Moth planes and Iron Lungs built alongside 80,000 repairs to Spitfires and Hurricanes during WWII. What is now MINI’s Plant Oxford was founded by William Morris – and Morris Motors kept control until 1952 – and has been owned and run by BMC, then British Motor Holdings (when Jaguar arrived), British Leyland (when Leyland Trucks, Triumph and Rover joined), nationalisation in the 1970s saw a variety of names, Rover Group arrived in 1986 and was subsequently privatised and sold in 1994 to BMW.

Opel not for sale, GM exec says

General Motors Vice Chairman Steve Girsky says Opel is not for sale. "We're developing plans to make Opel work," he said at the Automotive News World Congress on Tuesday. Opel and PSA/Peugeot-Citroen were mentioned as possible targets of Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who said on Monday he may seek to combine his company with another automaker to increase efficiencies and cut development costs.

Fioravanti expands into China in partnership with Eastone

Renowned Italian design house Fioravanti has formed a partnership with Shanghai-based design and engineering consultancy Eastone. The aim of this powerful duo is to deliver a wide range of design and build services directly to Chinese OEMs, with the first fruit of their labors being a concept car for Chinese manufacturer BAIC, to be unveiled at the Beijing auto show. For the first time in their own country, Chinese OEMs can now benefit from the time-served capabilities, knowledge and car culture typical of a leading Italian design house, while simultaneously gaining from the local knowledge, strong relationships and powerful commercial strength of a domestic design company.