Yet more redundancies could be announced at the Mini plant.

Up to 100 full-time workers at BMW’s Swindon plant, which makes the body parts assembled at Oxford, have been told they can transfer to Cowley or take redundancy.

And that could mean the future of the remaining 120 agency staff at the Cowley car plant is in doubt.

Plant convenor Bernard Moss said: “Some agency staff have been retained to offer flexibility for holiday cover and the like. But if we were to get 100 people from Swindon, then the future of those agency staff would be limited.”

BMW confirmed the Swindon staff were being offered a £1,500 transfer package as a one-off payment and can claim a petrol allowance to cover mileage costs for a two-year period.

Company spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: “Conversations have been taking place for a couple of weeks and it is an ongoing process. These people could be transferred over a period of weeks.”

Asked whether it meant more job losses at Cowley, Ms Baxter said she “did not wish to speculate” and there were “no further plans”.

Speaking about the future of the plant in general, Mr Moss said he was confident it would survive intact in Oxford thanks to its strong marketing position.

He added: “Look at the industry and there are thousands of jobs going everywhere. Globally, the Mini cannot hope to escape, but we are weathering the storm better than others because of the strength of the brand.”

There have been some rumours that BMW would relocate the plant — possibly to Germany to consolidate its operations on home soil.

But while Mr Moss said he “would not rule anything out” he had debated the point with a senior director at the plant.

Mr Moss added: “He said to me ‘why would we move the most flexible, productive plant outside of Leipzig?’”

Meanwhile, when the plant restarts on Monday, it will be operating on a two-shift system during the week only.

Full time staff from the weekend shift will integrate into the new system occupying the jobs vacated by agency workers. Bosses are also hoping the new Mini convertible model, which officially goes on sale on March 28, will boost sales.

Ms Baxter added: “We are taking steps to ensure supply matches demand, otherwise we will have to see what happens.”