BMW is closing production of the Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster, a move that will reportedly help streamline the brand and boost profitability.
The automaker calls the shift a "change in generation" at its Oxford plant that closes out the Coupe and Roadster's journey as Mini promotes the Mini 3-Door Hatch and Mini 5-Door that rolled out a few months ago.
"The two individual two-seater athletes Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster will finish their career together and as planned," BMW Group said in a statement.
The Oxford facility, which is Mini's main plant, has been restructured to produce 1,000 vehicles daily, a rise from around 700. Mini has not specified an exact date for when Coupe and Roadster production will end.
Debuting at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, the Mini Coupe appeared at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show and has been known for "its powerful engines, specific suspension set-up, low center of gravity and a rear spoiler that extends automatically at high speeds," said the automaker.
According to an Automotive News Europe report last month, BMW is aiming to make Mini more profitable by minimizing its lineup.
Mini, which builds around 313,000 vehicles annually, has a complicated company infrastructure offering seven models built on three platforms and manufactured at three plants. BMW Group doesn't post individual numbers for BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce financial reports, and analysts have speculated that Mini may not be making a profit.
"BMW has struggled to make Mini into a profit center from the beginning," Max Warburton, an auto analyst with Bernstein Research, told Automotive News. The brand's complex lineup is "hardly a recipe for making money, at least compared to some of their BMW-branded products," he said.
Mini's upcoming lineup will include the top-selling Cooper hatchback as well as an all-new Mini Clubman wagon, a four-door model that will be about a foot longer than the smallest Mini offering. A redesigned Countryman is slated for 2016.
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