The first five-door Mini hatchback has been built at the firm's Oxfordshire factory.
The new five-door Mini, which joins the already-launched three-door model when it goes on sale this October, is being built for the first time at Mini's Cowley site. The move is part of a £750 million investment programme across BMW's UK production sites, which started in 2011 and will finish next year.
Business secretary Vince Cable said the plan was "a further boost for the UK's manufacturing sector."
Priced from £15,900, BMW officials believe the five-door hatch could outsell the three-door by a factor of three to one, eventually accounting for around 150,000 units annually.
The five-door Mini is 161mm longer than the three-door model, and also offers an extra 15mm of headroom inside. One of the biggest gains has been upping the five-door's boot capacity to 278 litres, making it competitive against the Audi A1 - a model which Mini sees as its key rival.
Read more about the five-door Mini hatchback and see exclusive studio pictures, here.
Get the latest car news, reviews and galleries from Autocar direct to your inbox every week. Enter your email address below:
