The German luxury car maker BMW AG said it is recalling around 530 of its new Mini cars in Ireland and Britain because of a fault which could cause a fire when they are filled with petrol.
The company said it was aware of two cases where a build-up of static electricity had caused a localised fire. A spokesman in Germany said the company had made changes to the Mini's assembly and that earths were now being fitted to new models. The recall would cost BMW about one million marks (£402,000), the German spokesman said.
"We are recalling cars that are out there with customers in the UK, which of course are the only cars out there at the moment. It's around 500 cars," said Mr Chris Willows, corporate communications manager at BMW (GB) Ltd.
Willows said the parts needed to fix the cars would be available by the middle of next week and the risk of the fault developing into a serious incident were minimal.
The Mini went on sale in Britain in July, after BMW salvaged it from the wreckage of its ill-fated ownership of Britain's Rover Group. The car is due to go on sale in Europe in September, and in the US and Japan in 2002. BMW expects to sell 100,000 Minis around the world in a full year.
Analysts believe that BMW will produce around 200,000 Minis in the medium term when it brings out a convertible, a pick-up truck and a "clubman" - a version of the old Mini which was a station-wagon with wooden slats on the side.
BMW has targeted the Mini at two market groups - 20-to 34-year-olds with higher than average income - and a second group aged 35 to 50 that can afford a second or third car.
Nevertheless, the announcement will almost certainly cast a shadow over BMW's move into the small-car market and could tarnish the image of the revamped motoring legend.
The Mini was the only element that BMW kept from its disastrous six-year long investment in British car maker Rover.
BMW sold the rest of the company, which lost the German group many billions of pounds, to a British consortium called Phoenix in May 2000 for a symbolic sum. The sale drew a line under BMW's attempt to move into the mass market. Nevertheless, the company hoped the Mini would enable it to enter the small-car market.