Currently reading: Mini boss downplays Brexit and Trump concerns
Mini boss Peter Schwarzenbauer says it is "business as usual" as the firm waits to see what will happen in the UK and US

Mini says its operations are currently unaffected at its Oxford plant following the Brexit vote and will continue to be for some time until it's clear how the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) proceeds.

Mini boss Peter Schwarzenbauer said it remained "business as usual".

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He added: "For the time being, nothing has changed. I could consider thousands of different scenarios, but we don't know what will happen."

Schwarzenbauer said Mini had made significant investments in modernising its plant in the past two to three years and there was no imminent decision to be made on any future cash injections, because Mini simply "does not have any big investments in front of us".

This compares to Nissan, which had an imminent investment decision to make regarding future model production at its Sunderland plant, prompting it to seek assurances from the British government on Brexit before making a decision.

Schwarzenbauer said Mini was in a similar situation in the US with the recent election of Donald Trump as president.

"Nobody knows what really will happen at the end of the day," said Schwarzenbauer, who pointed to the fact that BMW already has a strong presence in the US. Its Spartanburg SUV plant is the largest BMW factory in the world.

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Mark Tisshaw

mark-tisshaw-autocar
Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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