2023 MINI Countryman will be built in Germany
The next generation MINI Countryman, which will be both ICE and EV, will be built in Germany, as more engine production heads for the UK.
But before you get too wound up at the prospect of MINIs not built in the UK, remember that the MINI Countryman is currently built by Nedcar in Holland (as is the MINI Convertible), so the moving of Countryman production to Germany (just the Countryman, for now) from 2023 isn’t nicking work from Oxford.
It’s a sensible move by BMW as they’re moving production to Leipzig where the BMW 1 Series and 2 Series Active Tourer are built, and with which the next generation of the Countryman, due in 2023, will share a platform, so it makes sense to have them built under the same roof.
Not only is Countryman production heading off to Germany, but when the new model built there arrives it will come as both an ICE (no doubt with electric help) and a full EV too as BMW continues its strategy of offering ‘EV’ as a powertrain option.
In related news, BMW has also announced that, as it focusses on an EV future, it will be investing £360 million in its main plant in Munich to create a new assembly line, with the aim of building electric cars based on BMW’s new EV Platform due in 2025.
The new assembly plant in Munich is being built on a site currently used for engine production, so much of the production of BMW’s six, eight and twelve cylinder engines will move to BMW’s site at Hams Hall (and some to Steyr) in the Midlands, joining production of three and four cylinder engines already produced there.
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