Written by: Katie Scott, Business Reporter
In a blow to the UK Car industry, BMW has confirmed that it is to stop building the electric Mini in the UK and instead will ramp up production in China and Germany.
The hatchback and small SUV electric Minis will start being built in China whilst the electric Countryman model will be built in Leipzig.
The Times broke the story on 15th October with BMW confirming the news. The Mini brand’s chief executive Stefanie Wurst said that the facility in Oxford “is just not geared for mass production” of electric cars. She added that “major investments” would be necessary to make battery models at scale, but BMW has suggested that electric car production will come back to the UK at some point.
The Financial Times explains: “Although BMW’s Oxford plant was adapted in 2019 to make the electric model, and is able to produce petrol and battery cars side-by-side, the assembly line still required additional manual workers every time an electric version was produced, in order to fit the imported German battery pack.”
In 2019, BMW announced that it was teaming up with Chinese firm, Great Wall Motors, to start making a battery-powered vehicle that would have around double the range of the current model. It said that production would begin in 2024.
Workers in Oxford will instead be tasked with building the Mini Cooper three-door and five-door Hatch models and, from 2025, the Mini Convertible. "This is one of our most important cars and a global best-seller, and further signals our commitment to the future. Plant Oxford will remain at the heart of Mini production," a BMW spokesperson told the BBC.
They added that there would be no impact on jobs.
