Mini has celebrated record annual sales in the UK and announced it is to recruit more apprentices for its production plants, including Swindon.
Mini sales reached 53,661last year – 3.3% higher than the previous record set in 2013 and giving the BMW-owned car brand a 2.17% market share.
Meanwhile BMW is seeking 47 apprentices to take up places in its three UK Mini plants in August. Five will be taken on at its Swindon pressings plant, which produces most of the body panels for the Mini range. 
The Oxford plant, which assembles the Mini, has 30 places available in a variety of areas ranging from finance and logistics to engineering and IT a further 12 will be created at the Hams Hall engine plant near Birmingham.
Managing director of the Swindon and Oxford plants, Frank Bachmann, said: “Investment in young people is a key part of our development strategy for the plants and it is vital that we attract the very best young talent to ensure the business has the right skills for the future.”
Mini apprenticeships last between three and four years and cover a wide range of skills from human resources and business to electrical maintenance and engineering. The training leads to an NVQ level three qualification and some young people will have the opportunity to progress right through to degree level in the course of their career at Mini.
BMW has invested millions of pounds in the Swindon plant in recent years to transform it into one of the most-advanced of its kind in Europe. It employs around 800 people.
The best=selling Mini model last year was the New 3-door hatch, launched in March.
Mini UK director Chris Brownridge said: “This sales performance is all the more remarkable when you consider that the new Mini 3-door hatch – the mainstay of the Mini range – only launched in March. When it arrived in showrooms, however, buyers couldn’t get enough of the iconic model.
“The great sales result last year takes the total number of Minis sold in the UK since 2001 to nearly 600,000 – proving that the British love affair with the brand is not only alive and well, but blossoming.”
Mini’s 2015 UK order bank is twice the size it was at the same period last year.
