7:50 am, October 15, 2022
The UK car building industry has been dealt a blow after BMW announced plans to move production of its popular Mini Electric overseas.
The German group currently builds around 40,000 of the EVs every year at its plant near Oxford but the line will now be taken to China instead.
The decision has been made after bosses came to the conclusion that the plant was ‘not geared up for electric vehicles’, the Times reports.
Executives at BMW feel that the factory is not running efficiently due to having to produce to produce electric and petrol cars on the same line.
From next year, the site will focus on building petrol-powered Minis for both domestic and international markets after BMW confirmed it will keep producing combustion engined cars until the 2030s.
Meanwhile, the next generation zero-emission Mini Aceman will now be built in China as part of BMW’s joint venture with Great Wall Motor.
It has also been decided that a new electric version of the Countryman, be manufactured at BMW’s Leipzig plant in Germany.
As a result, the Oxford plant is now now expected to build any new EVs until 2030 at the very earliest.
Before then, the factory is to undergo ‘renovation and investment’ to bring it up to speed when it comes to the production of electric cars.
‘Oxford will always be the home of Mini’
The Oxford plant has been subject to intense speculation in recent times with reports suggesting Great Wall could be interesting in buying it as part of its drive to make it big in Europe.
Now however, new head of Mini Stefanie Wurst, has quashed those rumours and by insisting ‘Oxford will always be the home of Mini’.
Despite her comments, Wurst admitted there could be a scenario in the future where both Mini and Great Wall build cars at the site.
A spokesman for Great Wall confirmed talks about building vehicles at the site had taken place internally but would not be drawn on any timeframe.
