Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Crossovers/CUVs, BMW, MINI

The MINI Monte (as in “Carlo”) might not be arriving on our shores in 2009. Instead, it could actually be built on our shores. Most MINIs are made at BMW’s plant in Oxford, but that factory is already at capacity. It has been rumored before that Magna might be contracted to build the MINI SUV at its plant in Austria, but the latest top secret word has BMW looking at the Spartanburg, SC plant where the X5 is built.

Of course, if the MINI’s fabrication costs were dollar denominated, and if the dollar/euro exchange rate continues to go where predicted, a U.S. build would make sense for BMW’s coffers and could make purchasing one a little easier for U.S. buyers.

[Source: Auto Express]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Spy Photos, BMW, MINI

Could it be true? Could there be an as-yet-unheard-of MINI variant added to the pile? Spy pics of some yellow beastly thing wearing a MINI front and rear have a few folks wondering if MINI might make a Moke. The original MINI Moke from the sixties was an offroad vehicle that Alec Issigonis was trying to sell to the military. We doubt BMW would have any such aims for a Moke revival, but at the very least it could be a much more capable four-wheeler than the Crossman/Monte looks like it’s going to be. A “possible retractable hard-top convertible, or a stripped down, open-air speedster variant,” and even the possibility of a small truck bed have been thrown into the guessing game basket. Or, as ever, it could just be a test mule and mean nothing at all. But knowing MINI, we doubt it. Oh, and BMW might also want to change the car’s name: moke means a dull or boring person, a donkey, or an old, broken-down horse.

[Source: Winding Road]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments