Yahoo Finance Chip shortage forces Mini factory to halt production
Car maker Mini has halted production at its factory in Oxford as it prioritises computer chips for manufacturing its luxury vehicles amid a shortage of semiconductors.
BMW, Mini’s owner, said the factory in Cowley will remain closed up to and including Friday as part of “short-term adjustments” to its production schedule.
The factory stopped operating for three days in spring last year because of the shortage which has led to millions of lost car sales around the globe.
BMW has been prioritising computer chips for its luxury brands such as Rolls-Royce amid a boom in demand from wealthy customers during the pandemic.
The Rolls-Royce car plant at Goodwood has been spared chip-related shutdowns, having not been closed since 2020 when the carmaker halted production in the early days of the pandemic.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said last month that his brand has been prioritised over Mini and other product lines by parent company BMW.
At the same time, the VDL Nedcar plant in the Netherlands, which builds the BMW X1 and the Mini Clubman, was forced into a week-long closure last year, as was a BMW plant in Regensburg, Germany.
Chipmakers have struggled to meet demand as they were flooded with orders as lockdowns ended and Covid outbreaks forced factories to shut down.
A spokesman for BMW said: "As a result of the global semiconductor shortage, an issue that has affected the entire automotive industry for the last year, Plant Oxford is making some short-term adjustments to its production schedule.
"Plant Oxford is standing down five days of production - Monday 21 February to Friday 25 February inclusive, for all shifts.
"We are monitoring the situation very closely and are in constant communication with our associates and suppliers."
The 3,800 workers at the plant will not lose out on pay as the work will be done once the factory has been resupplied, the company said.
BMW makes Minis at the factory in Oxford and also at the VDL Nedcar plant in the Netherlands, which itself has suffered recent shutdowns because of the parts shortages.
Separately on Wednesday, Vauxhall owner Stellantis tripled its profits last year, aided by the enduring sales of its best-selling Corsa in the UK.
The £16,500 car topped the sales chart in the UK in 2021 with 41,000 units being driven off forecourts, beating the Tesla Model 3 by more than 6,000 sales. It also topped the sales chart in Germany under the Opel brand.
Stellantis posted a net profit of €13.4bn after sales rose 14pc to €152bn. It was also helped by sales of its upmarket DS Automobiles brand and was able to demand more for its Dodge-branded muscle cars such as the Challenger and Charger.
