BMW has announced that its next generation electric Mini will be built in Cowley, Oxfordshire.
The new battery-electric Mini will be a variant of the brand’s 3 door car and follows BMW’s corporate strategy of offering its brands and models with a fully-electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain.
The electric Mini will go into production in 2019, increasing the choice of Mini powertrains to include petrol and diesel engines, a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric variant.
The electric Mini’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW Group’s e-mobility plants in Dingolfing and Landshut, Bavaria before being integrated in Cowley, which is the main production facility for the Mini 3 door model.
Welcoming today’s development, trade union Unite urged the UK government to get behind the Mini workforce by investing in the developing electric car industry.
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “We need to back manufacturing workers by putting the UK in the fast lane of electric motoring, committing to investing in the charging infrastructure needed to power the electric Minis of tomorrow.
“The government must play its part with a set of serious proposals to invest in our manufacturing future, the bedrock of wealth creation in this country.
“We urge the government to waste no more time – in bringing forward an industrial strategy of the scale and scope to ensure UK manufacturing stays in the fast lane.”
The new electric Mini is one of a series of electrified models set to be launched by the BMW and Mini brands. In 2018, the BMW i8 Roadster will become the newest member of the BMW i family. The all-electric BMW X3 has been announced for 2020, and the BMW iNEXT is due in 2021. By 2025, the BMW Group expects electrified vehicles to account for between 15-25 per cent of sales.