MINI Countryman now assembled locally
It has been a busy week for the folks at the Inokom Plant in Kulim, Kedah. Having reported to you last week on the start of CKD operations for the Mazda CX-5, today we bring you the news of another model roll out from the same plant – the MINI Countryman, which becomes the first of the modern BMW MINIs to be assembled in the South East Asian region.
The Countryman becomes the fifth model in BMW Group Malaysia’s portfolio of locally-assembled vehicles made in the Inokom plant, and a second production line has been added to the plant to facilitate this new addition. Previously, all variants of the 3 Series, 5 Series, X1 and X3 rolled out from one line, but the new line was added to comply with BMW’s international assembly standards which limits each individual production line to be dedicated to no more than four different models.
“Operational since 2008, the BMW Group Malaysia Assembly Plant in Kulim, Kedah has been an integral part of our success in Malaysia with a production run of more than 12,000 units to date. With a workforce of over 400 employees and equipped with the latest in manufacturing technologies, our BMW assembly facility here operates to the standards of any production facility of the BMW Group anywhere in the world. We are proud to be expanding our facilities here with the first ever locally assembled MINI Countryman.” said Assembly Facilities in Kulim, Kedah Dr. Gerhard Pils, Chief Executive Officer of BMW Group Malaysia.
The locally-assembled MINIs have about 30-40% local content. The vehicle bodies arrive at the factory in a fully-painted state and driveline components are imported with certain sub-assemblies performed locally either within the plant or by appointed suppliers. Trim components, sound-proofing, and exhaust piping are sourced locally. This is a notably less comprehensive local-assembly programme than the CX-5 which we reported last week.
Local-assembly programmes are invariably expensive investments and regardless of the complexity involved, such ventures only make sense once the model in question reaches a certain critical volume. Currently, BMW sells the MINI hatch in greater numbers than the Countryman, but the latter was selected for CKD because it is a newer model and that the company believes it has a bigger potential of sales growth to achieve. The current generation MINI hatch is also too near the end of its model life cycle to justify the investment of a CKD programme anyway.
Commenting on BMW Group Malaysia’s overall sales performance this year, Dr Pils said, “Until the month of May this year, we at BMW Group Malaysia have already delivered 2,801 vehicles comprising of MINI, BMW and BMW Motorrad, a 4% growth over the same period last year (2012: 2702). The MINI brand alone achieved a 15% growth as compared to the same period last year with 161 MINIs delivered this year in comparison to 140 MINIs delivered last year, further reinforcing the brand’s popularity in Malaysia. Our sales numbers are also expected to go from strength to strength following today’s introduction of the locally assembled MINI Countryman.”
Specification-wise, the locally-assembled Countryman models are identical to their imported counterparts in terms of features and mechanical specifications, with two variants currently being assembled – the naturally-aspirated front-wheel drive Cooper Countryman and the turbocharged all-wheel drive Cooper S Countryman ALL4. This line-up is identical to what was launched in 2011, but what’s not generally known is that there was a period in time where the Cooper S ALL4 model was dropped in favour of a simpler front-wheel drive model to offer a lower price.
To recap, both variants of the Countryman offered in Malaysia are powered by BMW’s award-winning 1.6-litre Prince engine in naturally aspirated and turbocharged guises. The front-wheel driven Cooper model gets the NA version pushing out 120hp and 160Nm whilst the Cooper S gets the turbocharged version with 184hp and 240Nm on tap.
The new MINI Countryman comes in a range of exterior colour including eleven exterior colour options in the form of Light White, Absolute Black, Crystal Silver, Royal Grey and True Blue, Blazing Red, Brilliant Copper. Inside, the upholstery materials are designed in Leather Gravity Carbon Black. The Government has yet to approve selling prices for the new MINI Countryman CKD, but estimated prices of RM218,888 and RM258,888 have been announced for the Cooper and Cooper S ALL4 respectively. These prices are on-the-road for personal registration without insurance, but inclusive of MINI Tender Loving Care after sales package.
