Patricia Hewitt: "bright prospect"

Ms Hewitt was given a tour of the state-of-the-art production line where some 100,000 Mini's are expected to be rolled-out this year

Ms Hewitt said: "Manufacturing is having a hard time at the moment, in the UK and in other leading world economies, but we must look at examples like BMW's massive investment in this new plant as real the pointers to the future.

"Next month's launch of the Mini in North America and Japan demonstrates that UK manufacturing remains a very bright prospect for the 21st Century."

The new Mini has been a critical and commercial success for BMW since it was rolled-out in July 2001.

'Fantastic example'

Ms Hewitt said: "The new Mini is a modern manufacturing success, for both BMW and the skilled workforce at Oxford.

"It is the sort of manufacturing project that the DTI is encouraging to locate to the UK.

"I strongly believe that UK manufacturing in the 21st Century is not about churning out low-grade, low-value goods, but harnessing new ideas and leading-edge technology to develop world-class products.

"The new Mini is a fantastic example of this."

Dr Herbert Diess, managing director of BMW Group's Oxford plant, said: "The Mini has been very well received and in 2001 we produced just over 42,000 Minis instead of the 30,000 planned.

"In 2002 we will comfortably achieve our target of building 100,000 cars at Oxford.

"About 70% of the plant's production volume is exported and we are looking forward to meeting the challenge of introducing the car in the US and Japan."