I ran a CarFax report on my MC for fun the other day, and noticed that it says "Manufactured in GERMANY" !

Now, I know all MINIs are built in the U.K., but seeing this mistake was still a shocker... Bayerische Motoren Werke strikes again!

 

i noticed that too.. i guess they just figure that since bmw owns mini that its made in germany. oh well...

 

German car, assembled in the UK, trading on a British image for marketing purposes.

 

Don't forget the engine made in Brazil!

I don't have the sticker handy, but I *think* it said 15% of MINI components are British-made.

 

All components in the BMW MINI Cooper are made in the European Union with the exception of the Brazilian built TRITEC Engine. For example, the seats are made by an American company, Johnson Controls. The key lockset and wiper system are made by Valeo of France. The sunroof is made by Webasto of Germany and the engine computer management system is made by Siemens of Germany.

Although the MINI is manufactured in the UK, the car officially lists its origin as being German ('W' letter in the VIN serial number sequence confirms this...W = 'West Germany' in cold war age naming convention). I am not sure why BMW prefers to list the MINI as a German made product (Maybe because of trade reasons between the European Union and other countries, not sure) instead of British built or assembled.

The MINI has a number of "American" derived parts in its suspension, brought to you by Delphi Automotive, the ex General Motors subsidiary...

 

Also, the Cooper CVT transmission is made by ZF in Belgium.

 

Oh and don't forget that the new MINI was designed by an American called Frank Stephenson. He now works for Ferrari Spa in Italy.

 

As far as I know the mini assembly is done at the BMW plant at Crowley, an industrial area in Oxford England.
A pretty international car indeed. :smile:

 

>>A pretty international car indeed. :smile:

If we look close enough, we could probably find some electronic components from Asia. :smile:

 

>>If we look close enough, we could probably find some electronic components from Asia. :smile:

The stereo is made by Alpine, a Japanese company. I have the CD changer as well, an Alpine unit made in China. The NAV system is made by Pioneer, a Japanese company.

It's definitely a 'world car'!