The new Mini has exceeded all expectations and helped its maker BMW to the most successful year in its history.

Latest official figures for the whole of 2001 show 42,395 of the highly successful little cars were made at the Cowley plant last year out of a total BMW production of 946,730 -- a rise of 13.4 per cent on the previous year.

The Mini figure is all the more remarkable as original estimates had suggested just 30,000 cars would be built in 2001.

Now the factory's managers are predicting the 2002 figure -- the car's first full year of production -- will easily top the 100,000 mark as exports to supply new markets worldwide build up.

A spokesman said: "We're building up to launch the Mini in the United States and Japan in March, closely followed by Australia and New Zealand. We will comfortably achieve production of 100,000 cars this year and there's room to go higher than that, with the factory capable of running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We're constantly monitoring demand."

The Mini's success has also spelled major job opportunities at the plant with 2,738 workers now full-time BMW employees -- up 14 per cent from the 2,401 taken on originally.

Of those, about 240 temporary staff have been given permanent contracts, with hundreds more predicted to follow this year.

More than 4,500 people are employed at the plant, including temporary agency staff.

On a world scale, BMW sales were up by more than 13 per cent to more than £23bn.