The Mini Cooper has been voted number one small car in a study of American drivers.

The car, built at Cowley, near Oxford, replaced the VW Beetle, as the top "compact car" in a survey of more than 100,000 drivers.

The car has proved extremely popular in America with all 20,000 models allocated to the US selling out within a week.

The Cowley plant employs more than 4,500 people and manufacturers about 130,000 cars a year.

German motor giant BMW, which makes the Mini, said the findings reflected the impact the car had made when it was launched in the United States earlier this year.

More than 38,000 Minis have been sold in the UK since it was launched in July 2001 and there is strong demand in several countries including Japan, Germany and Italy.