Five-Door Mini Hatch Is Go

BMW HAS announced that production of the long awaited five-door Mini Hatch has started, signaling the next phase in the car maker’s £750 million investment programme across its UK production facilities from 2011 to 2015.

The car comes hot on the heels of the new Mini Hatch, which was launched in November. The new five-door version will go on sale in the autumn.

This new five-door model is the second member of the Mini family to be built on a new platform. This approach increases the flexibility of the manufacturing process, allowing more models of greater variation to be produced more efficiently, an essential element of the Mini’s build-to-order appeal.

Preparations for the new generation of Mini have seen the building of a new bodyshop at the main Oxford site and significant investment in facilities at Plant Swindon, where the car’s body panels are pressed and a number of sub-assemblies made.

By Press Association reporters