MINI cars stand in a row at the MINI plant at Cowley in Oxford, England, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023. German automaker BMW is set to announce plans to build the next generation electric Mini in Britain after securing U.K. government support for a multimillion-pound investment in the companys Oxford factory. The government on Monday confirmed its backing for the project, which will protect 4,000 jobs. , protecting thousands of jobs at a site that has been making cars for more than 100 years.
BMW's plans are a vote of confidence in Britain’s beleaguered auto industry, which is struggling to compete amid an industrywide shift to electric vehicles and the challenges created by the U.K.’s exit from the European Union’s single market. U.K. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch declined to comment on reports that the government would invest 75 million pounds in the project. Releasing such information would complicate negotiations with other companies as the government seeks to attract investments in electric car production, she said.“What I will say is that we do provide some subsidy, very light subsidy, in the auto industry because it faces so much difficulty, and some of that is regulatory,” Badenoch told reporters in Oxford.
While output has rebounded this year as chip shortages eased, the trade group estimates annual production at about 840,500 vehicles, down from more than 1.3 million in 2019.
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