Mini Park Lane will reopen its doors on 9 December following a £1.75 million investment to create the largest new Mini showroom in the world.

The flagship dealership on London’s Park Lane has quadrupled in size and the multi-level showroom housing 14 Minis on display will also be the first in the UK to have a bespoke John Cooper Works display area. It is anticipated that Mini Park Lane will sell around 1,200 new and used Minis in a full year.

Trevor Houghton-Berry, general manager of Mini UK, said: "Mini has become a successful marque in its own right and is taking a 1.7 per cent share of the UK new car market. Our dealer network recognises the tremendous business potential this represents and is now making some significant investments in new, stand-alone facilities. Clearly this is something Mini UK is encouraging."

Mini Park Lane is one of 40 stand-alone Mini dealerships out of a total network of 152 UK sites. Harry Fairbairn in Irvine has already opened a new £400,000 six-car showroom and HR Owen is scheduled to open a new £1.5 million eight-car showroom at London Heathrow in March 2005.

Mini has already exceeded its 2003 UK sales figure of 40,510 vehicles and 2004 is set to be another record sales year with sales of used Minis up 60% over the same period. In addition, the number of dedicated Mini sales executives has increased during 2004 by 21% taking the total number across the dealer network to 454.