James May fronts new live TV programme showing cars being built

Presented by James May, Kate Humble and Ant Anstead, Building Cars Live will reveal the science and engineering of modern car manufacturing, and meet the people that produce almost 1000 Minis in Oxford every day - which constitutes almost a quarter of the UK's car manufacturing output.

The programme will also visit other car manufacturers across Britain to explore how global mass car production has evolved and look at Britain's burgeoning automotive sector.

Focusing primarily on Mini's Plant Oxford, its 102-year history and the modern manufacturing processes involved in producing cars and exporting them to over 110 markets around the world, Building Cars Live will also examine how a Mini starts life as a roll of steel in Swindon, then makes its way through a body shop where it is pieced together with up to 6,000 welds, then through the paint process, into assembly and finally through a series of diagnostic tests.

Also under examination will be people who make the cars. It's widely perceived that robots build modern cars, but the programme will highlight the skills, training and teamwork that puts real British workers at the heart of modern car production.

Some of the factory's 4,000 employees will explain their jobs to the presenters demonstrating everything from producing the body, to the paint process, final assembly and the detailed quality testing in the climate chamber and on the test track.

The Mini's position as a true icon of British motoring will also be examined, as will how car buying has changed in the years since the model's first appearance, and how car design adapts to safety considerations and changing trends.