Munich - The last of the current generation MINI convertibles has rolled off the production line at the Oxford plant in England with the white MINI Cooper S going to a fan in the United States, BMW, the owner of MINI, has announced.

Some 164,000 units of the car have been sold worldwide with most of the cars finding customers on the domestic market in Britain and Ireland followed by the United States, the car maker said.

"For us, this is the end of an era", said Plant Director Oliver Zipse in Oxford. "It is a great joy to build a car and know exactly how much fun customers will have with it". The British plant has reserved its manufacturing capacities for the models MINI and MINI Clubman until further notice.

BMW is planning production of the new MINI convertible early next year.

The company announced recently that it will be testing a fleet of MINI cars with electric drive and hinted at the possibility that such a vehicle would be available in about two years. (dpa)