BMW May Outsource the Production of the Upcoming MINI Colorado SUV to Magna

There are rumors that the next version of the popular MINI will be an SUV. This fall MINI is going to release a third version of the MINI called the Clubman, which is essentially a stretched MINI. BMW is considering other models of the small car, such as the MINI SUV that could be named the Colorado.

Currently the MINI plant in Oxford, England is running at full capacity, so it will not be possible for BMW to build another version at that plant. Magna on the other hand has extra capacity at its Graz, Austria plant where the Chrysler 300 was built until recently when Chrysler decided to move the production to its Brampton, Ontario plant. Also the next BMW X3 will not be built at the Magna plant as it is switching to BMW's South Carolina plant. The Magna plant built 26,400 Chrysler 300s and 113,000 X3's last year. The company is trying to work with BMW to build 65,000 MINI Colorados to make up for the loss of the X3 and 300 sedan.