3:00 pm, March 8, 2023
Production of the new wave of the Mini Electric WILL be taking place in the UK after all following a U-turn by parent company BMW, it’s being reported.
The German manufacturer dealt Mini’s assembly plant near Oxford – and the UK’s automotive industry as a whole – a major blow last October when it suddenly announced that it would be shifting the work to China.
According to a Times report back then, BMW had decided that the UK factory wasn’t ‘geared up for electric vehicles’, with Stefanie Wurst, the German head of Mini adding: ‘It will need renovation and investment.’
But Car magazine is now saying that BMW executives have had a rethink and are poised to rubber-stamp the deal later this week.
It says that when factories across the BMW network were given the chance to bid for investment, Plant Oxford convinced the company that it really does have what it takes.
In the wake of the Car report, The Times subsequently cited a Sky News report that said BMW has been given £75m by the Automotive Transformation Fund.
The Times added that chancellor Jeremy Hunt may even announce details of it in next Wednesday’s Budget. It said the total investment could reach £600m, which would give job security to thousands.
Car cited a source as telling it that Mini needed more electric factories because it was aiming for sales to increase from 293,000 to 500,000 a year by 2030. By the end of 2030, Mini has vowed to be all-electric.
According to Car, the UK factory will transition to manufacturing both the three- and five-door Minis later this year.
It says the three-door version will be pure electric, with a petrol version with 1.5-litre three-cylinder and 2.0-litre four-cylinder engines as well.
The Mini Electric will be joined by the next version of the Mini Cabriolet, which is made in the Netherlands at the moment.
The new electric Mini Cabriolet will start production in 2025.
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