BMW warns of risk to UK production plants in event of no-deal Brexit

BMW has revealed it could be forced to stop making the Mini at its Cowley plant near Oxford and also look at whether it should move some engine production from Hams Hall in Warwickshire to a site in Austria in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, the German car giant’s board member responsible for Mini and Rolls Royce cars, told Sky News that the future of the Mini brand in the UK was under threat in the absence of a Brexit deal.

The automotive firm joined Toyota in warning that an uncontrolled exit from the EU would impact UK jobs.

Schwarzenbauer also told the Reuters news agency at the Geneva car show that some engine manufacturing, at Hams Hall in Birmingham, could shift to Austria.

Schwarzenbauer said that as Rolls Royce is a luxury British brand, it would have to remain rooted to the UK whatever happens on 29 March but said he could not give the same commitment to the Mini and its plant in Oxford.

He told Sky News: “This would really be a huge burden to the Mini brand.

“If this would come – the worst case scenario… we would need to consider what it exactly means for us on the long run. For Mini this is really a danger. No doubt about that.”

Nervousness about the impact of a no-deal Brexit caused BMW to schedule its annual shutdown of its Mini factory in Oxford for April 1 – immediately after the UK is scheduled to leave the European Union.

Its engine plant at Hams Hall is currently unaffected while the automotive manufacturer assesses the most appropriate time to schedule a shutdown for its West Midlands site.

BMW’s decision last year created a lot of noise – fuelled by Jaguar Land Rover’s two pronouncements about the risk to thousands of jobs of a bad Brexit and its decision to implement a three-day week at Castle Bromwich – although much of the commentary overlooked that it has an annual shutdown for maintenance.