Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight
BMW ’s new electric Mini could be produced in Germany rather than the UK, amid concerns relating to the possible impact of a hard Brexit .
Citing sources at BMW, German newspaper Handelsblatt said that the German carmaker is looking at its plants in Leipzig and Regensburg as alternatives to Oxford.
Production of the electric Mini is slated to begin in 2019 and BMW has to make a decision about where it will produce the new vehicles in the second half of this year, according to Handelsblatt .
Sources told the paper that the automaker plans to start talks with the British government in the coming weeks, though BMW declined to officially comment, Handelsblatt said.
A decision by BMW to produce the Mini outside of the UK could deal a major blow to the UK car industry which is already gripped by uncertainty ahead of the UK’s departure from the EU.
The number of cars built in the UK hit a 17-year high last year and more cars are being exported from Britain than ever before, but a failure to establish proper trade deals after Brexit could damage the industry “beyond repair”, a leading trade body warned in January.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said that it wants “trade deals but they must be the right deals, not rushed deals.”
“Failure to do so could damage UK automotive manufacturing beyond repair,” the group added.
Show all 26 Brexit Concerns Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs Brexit will put British patients at the “back of the queue” for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned – forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA – because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice.
Getty Images
Brexit Concerns London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks One of Germany’s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank—Germany’s central bank—told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were “equivalent” between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still “miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market”, the BBC reports.
Jason Hawkes
The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union
Shutterstock
Brexit Concerns Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEO’s performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterling’s fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors.
Rex
Brexit Concerns Theresa May: UK to leave single market Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all".
Getty
Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court
Getty
Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit
PA wire
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit
PA wire
Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais
Getty
Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp
Getty
The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today
EPA
Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain
Reuters
Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry
Getty
Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote
PA
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging
Getty
Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities
Getty
A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses
Getty
Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes
Getty
A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU
Getty
Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum
Getty
Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU
Getty
NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit
Getty
The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future
Getty
A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain
Reuters
The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions
Getty
The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market
Getty
Also in January, the boss of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, admitted that his company’s UK investments would be “re-evaluated” if Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a bad Brexit deal, despite last October's high-profile commitment by the firm to build its next Qashqai and X-Trail model at its Sunderland plant.
BMW manufactures more than 200,000 Mini cars a year at the plant in Oxford alone and employs more than 24,000 people in Britain, according to Handelsblatt .
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies