MINI has temporarily stopped the production of all manual transmission vehicles, as a result of supply-chain bottlenecks that have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the semiconductor shortage.
The production of manual-transmission MINI vehicles has been halted in order to “ensure production stability,” a MINI spokesperson told Carscoops. The company has yet to confirm how long the manufacturing pause will last but it told us that it is a temporary measure.
“In order to secure maximum production output to meet increasing customer demand, our product offer needs to be simplified,” the spokesperson said. “This solution is the most effective way to ensure production stability so that we can continue to supply all our customers with new MINIs.”
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In certain markets, MINI offers a manual gearbox variants of all its vehicles, except the MINI Electric. As automatic transmissions become ever more popular and EVs take over, though, the need for three-pedal model;s is becoming increasingly questioned in the automotive industry, leading some to wonder if it will ever return. MINI confirmed, though, that it will.
“The simplified offer is a temporary measure to support the current situation and will be reinstated in the future when circumstances allow,” the spokesperson said, adding that “the simplified product offering and the length of time it will last varies globally by market.”
Semiconductor supplies have also impacted automakers around the world, leading to production interruptions. That has led some automakers to put the production of certain models on hiatus while others have paused the sale of certain features, like seat-heating, in order to get vehicles out of the factory and into customers’ hands.
Both Ukraine and Russia supply Europe’s automotive industry with vital materials for production. Between Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia, European automakers have been left scrambling to produce vehicles.
