The first three characters of a VIN are the World Manufacturer Identifier (WMI). WMW is assigned to Mini, built in Germany (Europe). Any VIN that starts with WMW decodes to Mini. The sample VINs below are checksum-valid and start with WMW.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| WMI | WMW (VIN positions 1–3) |
| Manufacturer | Mini |
| Country of assembly | Germany |
| Region | Europe (from the first character, W) |
| Models seen here | Cooper |
Mini test VINs · Decode a WMW VIN →
After the WMW WMI, positions 4–8 describe the model, body and engine; position 9 is the mod-11 check digit; position 10 is the model year; position 11 is the assembly plant; and positions 12–17 are the serial number. See the full 17-digit VIN format.
WMW is a Mini WMI. Every VIN beginning with WMW was built by Mini and decodes to that make.
The first character W places the manufacturer in Germany (Europe region) under the VIN standard.
No. They are synthetically generated but checksum-valid and use the real WMW WMI, so a decoder returns Mini. No real vehicle's VIN is used.