MINI Countryman to be built in India

BMW has revealed that, a year after sales of the MINI started in India, production of the MINI Countryman will commence in Chennai later in 2013.

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Whatever you may think of the plethora of MINI spin-offs since BMW grabbed MINI more than a  decade ago, no one can deny that the Germans have had even more success with the brand than we ever did.

MINI sells worldwide – even in the US – and, despite claims it was a step too far for the brand, the MINI Countryman has been a big hit for MINI, offering as it does most of MINI’s charm but in a bigger, more family friendly package and with the option of All4 4WD for a degree of off-road ability (well, certainly the ability to treat boot sale car parks with disdain).

Now, for the first time, BMW is to build the MINI outside Europe with a new MINi assembly facility coming on stream in Chennai, India, where BMW already makes 3 and 5 Series models as well as the X1 and X3.

The plan is part of BMW’s plan of ‘Production follows the market’ where BMW aim to make their cars where they’re sold, so with the MINI brand showing strong growth in India since its launch it makes sense to build them there.

So the plan is to kick of production in India with the MINI Cooper D Countryman and MINI One Countryman, but that won’t affect production for MINI in the UK as the Countryman is the only MINI to be built outside the UK, at Magna Steyr in Austria (well, the Paceman is too, but that’s a Countryman Coupe anyway).

Just like every other car maker of any size, the only sensible way forward for BMW is to build cars in the markets for which they’re destined. That will mean the MINI being built in other countries too before long, but the USP of the MINI is its ‘Britishness’, so there’s little chance BMW will let local production of the MINI undermine its UK production.

BMW only sold 302 MINIs in India in 2012, but you can bet your boots it’ll be a lot more once Countryman production gets under way in Chennai.