A few years ago I went on a tour of the Longbridge Mini Factory to see how classic Minis were built this included seeing some of the more modern Rover cars produced on robot body welding production lines.
Obviously this is no longer possible to do but some here on the MCR MINI forums may be interested in doing a tour of the MINI factory at Oxford (Cowley). It is very easy to book as an individual, or for a group of about 25-30 people if someone from a club or forum is interested in organising. I went recently on a Saturday morning and would recommend it to anyone interested in Minis/MINI's or cars in general. The cost was £8 each which is donated to a childrens charity called Whizz-Kidz. (There is also a display of various classic Mini's and of course MINI's at the plant). Some more official info below:-
Visiting production areas: The tours will start in the Plant Oxford Info Centre, with the main focus of the tour being the Body in White (welding) and Assembly Halls. For Health and Safety reasons, visitors will not go into the paint facility, but instead be introduced to key highlights of the paint process with visual aids in the Info Centre.
The MINI is manufactured at BMW Group Plant Oxford, the only car production plant responsible for the production of the MINI.
To book a tour and see for yourself how the MINI is made, please contact Plant Oxford directly:
We regret that children below the age of 14 are not allowed on site for Health and Safety reasons. Our maximum group size will be 30 people. Plant Tours start AM and PM and last approximately two and a half hours.
