The first ‘BMW’ MINI rolled off the production line 20 years ago today

The MINI is 20 – the first MINI and the latest

It’s 20 years to the day that the first MINI from BMW rolled off the production line in Oxford, the first of more than 5 million built since.

It was twenty years ago today (no, we’re not going in to Sgt. Pepper’s) that the very first ‘capital letters’ MINI rolled off the production line in Oxford to objections from Mini (that’s the non-capitalised Mini) anoraks that it was too complicated and too expensive and BMW had ruined the brand.

Five million MINIs later there may be a few diehard Mini lovers in tweed jackets with leather elbow patches still mourning, but the numbers make it clear the MINI is hugely popular and still rolling out of Oxford (and Swindon) in decent numbers.

Successfully churning out three-door and five-door Hatches, Convertibles and Clubmans, MINI UK now also churns out the MINI Electric too as a sign of what’s to come as MINI plans to be the first BMW brand to go all-electric by 2030.

It would take forever to list the ‘special edition’ MINIs churned out in the last 20 years as MINI successfully tweaked offerings for any tenuous reason they could muster, although not all MINI iterations have been hits, with the MINI Paceman, Coupe and Roadster consigned to the history bin back in 2014.

BMW Group boss Oliver Zipse, who did a stint in 2007-2008 in charge of production at Oxford, said:

Congratulations to everyone at MINI Plants Oxford and Swindon for reaching such a great manufacturing milestone. I still have very fond memories of my time at Oxford. It was a real pleasure to work at the home and heart of the MINI brand with such engaging and passionate people, nearly one quarter of whom have dedicated these 20-years or more to building our cars.

The original Mini took more than 40 years to deliver five million cars, and the ‘BMW’ MINI half that time. Whatever the old anoraks may have said when BMW reinvented the brand, they’ve done a cracking job.