BMW, owner of the Cowley Mini factory, has given an upbeat forecast of its future earnings.
It has reported first-quarter pre-tax profits in its core automotive division three times higher than the previous quarter.
The £250m figure for the first three months of 2010 was higher than stockmarkets had anticipated and followed a loss of £215m in the first quarter of 2009.
Chairman Norbert Reithofer said: "We are now back on a growth course on almost all car markets."
Sales of Cowley-built Minis increased by 13.6 per cent on the first three months of 2009 to 49,526 in the first quarter of this year, with the new Austrian-built Mini Countryman launch in the autumn expected to boost sales further.
The carmaker is planning to launch a modular platform for building small cars in 2014, in a move which would integrate its Mini model range with small BMW cars.
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