A Shropshire business is bucking the downward trend in the automotive business – thanks to a major problem with the steering system of the BMW Mini.

While the county’s car component companies are axing jobs amid falling order books, a small Shifnal enterprise is creating jobs and going from strength to strength.

Minimatt, in Lamledge Lane, is struggling to keep up with demand after the Mini began to show a fault with its power steering pumps.

But thanks to securing a niche for Mini servicing and repairs when the cult car was relaunched by BMW in 2001, boss Matt Pike says his business is doing well despite the recession.

BMW claims that power steering pump failures are not common.

But Matt, an independent Mini mechanic and a supplier of spare parts, says he can barely keep up with demand for replacement power steering pumps.

“At least 60 per cent of our regular customers have all had pumps changed. And we’re getting at least two calls a day from people after power steering pumps because they’re such a big failure. I’d say it’s the most common problem we have with the Minis.”

Minimatt was set up around five years after Matt bought a Mini for himself which needed some repairs.

“We’ve got bigger and bigger. After starting out on my own, we now have three other staff and one part-time employee.

“We managed to catch the niche early, when the new Minis came out. I managed to buy one which needed repairs, and then started buying some parts and repairs and spares and servicing.

“Now we export the parts all over the world, to Australia, lots to Cyprus, Italy and France.”

Matt, who has also appeared on the BBC’s Watchdog programme to discuss the steering problem, said the Mini’s electric power-assisted steering pumps had several faults, including connectors which would rust away or they would stop working completely.

“We started supplying second-hand pumps and now we import from Germany and can beat most people’s prices.

“We do a lot of pumps and its hard to keep up with the demand, we keep two or three in stock but they go quickly.

In a statement to Watchdog, BMW said power steering systems were an added support function which makes steering easier, especially at slow speeds.

“They are not an essential component of steering systems and cars can be driven perfectly safely without power steering assistance. All new Minis on sale today also feature new power steering mechanisms completely unaffected by these issues.”

By Business Editor Amy Bould

* For more news from the local economy, don’t miss Business Star in Monday’s Shropshire Star