BMW has announced that it will invest £500 million in their UK production plants over the next three years to assemble the next generation Mini models.

The German car maker claims to have invested more than £1.5 billion since 2000 across all its UK locations, including the Mini vehicle assembly plant in Oxford, the pressings plant in Swindon and the company’s engine plant at Hams Hall near Birmingham. The firm said the investment will secure more than 5,000 in these plants.

“I welcome this major investment by BMW Group in UK manufacturing. The production and export of iconic British cars like the Mini is making a real contribution to the rebalancing of the economy that this government is determined to achieve,” said Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting with the BMW Group chairman Norbert Reithofer at Downing Street.

“It is a tremendous vote of confidence in the skills and capabilities of the company’s British workforce and in the future of UK manufacturing. They have shown once again that the UK is a major player in the global automotive industry,” he added.

BMW follows with this decision the company's strategy, which is to link the location of production to a large market for its products. UK is fourth-largest single market in the world for sales for the BMW Group, behind only Germany, the US and China, with sales in 2010 across the BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands of 154,750 units.

A report published by Oxford Economics highlights the significance of the BMW Group’s business operations in the UK economy, which besides its dealer network employ around 18,000 people directly, while its supplier and service network supports over 46,000 jobs in total in the UK.

Mini, which original  model is considered a British icon of the 1960s, has had several owners since it was launched in 1959. BMW has been the last firm in owning the brand, since 1994, following British Motor Association, British Motor Holdings, British Leyland Motor Corporation, Rover Group and British Aerospace.

The new generation of Mini models will include the Mini Coupé, to be launched in 2011, followed by the Mini Roadster in 2012, both of which will be produced in Oxford.