Bosses at the Cowley Mini plant have blamed plummeting numbers of private buyers for a 40 per cent slump in UK sales of the Cowley-built Mini.

Figures supplied by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show 1,886 cars were sold in the UK during October, compared to 3,150 in the same month last year.

Angela Stangroom, spokesman for Mini parent company BMW, said: “The biggest fall in the UK market has been with private buyers and the majority of Minis are bought by retail buyers rather than companies. The corporate sector has been a little more resilient.

“While Mini has managed to weather the economic conditions pretty well and its market share has remained constant, it is not immune.”

Ms Stangroom was speaking after it was revealed production at the Cowley plant will shut down for almost a month over the Christmas period — 11 days longer than forecast last month.

The closure is in addition to a weekend shutdown between November 21 and 23.

Overall new car registrations in the UK fell by 23 per cent in October to 128,352 units.

Worldwide, the Mini is faring better, although sales have dropped for the second month in a row.

In October 17,385 cars left showrooms globally compared to 17,989 in the same month the previous year, a fall of 3.4 per cent. But the decline is not as steep as the figure for September when it slipped by 5.5 per cent Management at Cowley also blame the latest figures on the removal of the Mini Convertible from the model range with a replacement not due until the first half of 2009.

For the year as a whole, Mini sales are still 10.5 per cent ahead of 2007, reaching a total of 202,302 cars in October.