New Electric MINI WILL be built in the UK – with drivetrains from Germany

BMW has announced that its new Electric MINI will be built in the UK, at MINI’s Cowley Plant, with drivetrains built in Germany.

Just as there has been with Nissan, BMW has been slow to confirm production of the new electric MINI in the UK, with fears Brexit will cause issues with tariffs on imports.

But, just as Nissan did, BMW has come out and announced that the new electric MINI will be built in the UK – at MINI’s plant at MINI’s Cowley Plant in Oxfordshire.

In number terms, it’s unlikely the MINI EV will sell a fraction of the numbers the regular ICE MINIs do, but it’s a good PR boost for the government.

But the new MINI won’t be completely ‘Made in the UK’, as the electric drivetrain – pretty much shared with the BMW i3 – will come from BMW’s e-Mobility plants in Germany.

What exactly the MINI-E will offer is still open to speculation, but BMW are about to announce a big improvement in the i3’s range, and the MINI is expected to match, or exceed, that figure.

That could make the MINI-E a very good choice for City dwellers as big cities clamp down on ICE cars – and diesel especially – in the coming years, and with a greater degree of acceptance by buyers of EVs it should be a bit of a perfect storm for MINI.