BMW car workers in Oxford have voted in favour of new shift patterns, to cope with a hoped-for uplift in orders.

Permanent staff at the German-owned Mini plant in Cowley were given the option of four different shift patterns and opted to work a maximum of one Saturday a month, if needed.

The late Friday shift, which has been running since weekend production was axed earlier this year, will also be made permanent.

Many workers 'owe' time to the plant’s owner BMW following the shut-down over Christmas. Some workers had complained the changes would force them to work at weekends for the first time in years.

In February, 850 agency staff were told they were no longer required because of a fall in demand.

The weekend shift — commonly known as the yellow shift — was axed and permanent staff on it were moved over to fill spaces left by the sacked agency workers on the weekday red and blue shifts.

The factory will operate a maximum of two Saturdays a month, with red and blue shift workers each working one of the Saturdays.

The first Saturday shift is planned for June 13 and the next on June 27.

BMW spokesman Rebecca Baxter said the new shift pattern had already been operating temporarily to cope with an uplift of orders for May, and the company wanted the flexibility to be able to respond to future upturns.

She said: “We were already working Mini as a built-to-order brand, and as such Plant Oxford needs to have the right shift patterns in place to deal with fluctuations in customer demand and the high degree of market volatility.”

She said the new shift patterns would continue until the end of the year, adding: "We will then assess.

Last week, BMW announced a £175m pre-tax loss for the first three months of this year — reversing a £568m pre-tax profit achieved in the first quarter of 2008.

Just 43,592 Cowley-built Minis have been delivered to customers so far this year. That compares to 58,054 last year — a drop of almost 25 per cent.

BMW said its worldwide workforce had shrunk 7.3 per cent from 106,887 on March 31 last year to 99,112 now.The job losses include more than 1,200 agency staff at Cowley.

However, bosses said Mini had a bright future and this week’s issue of Autocar magazine carried pictures said to show a design proposal for the next-generation models.

Expected in early 2011, the car has been given a new exterior treatment, even though it is based on today’s Mini, Autocar said.