BMW is having a rethink about building electric Minis at its Oxford Plant because of the slowdown in EV uptake.
The German company had planned to start production of the electric Mini hatch and new Aceman crossover in the UK. However, the downward blip of new electric cars in the EU means BMW is holding fire on English production plans.
“The BMW Group is currently reviewing the timing for reintroducing battery-electric Mini production in Oxford,” according to a statement to Auto Express.
Meantime, BMW will continue to import these electric variants from China. However, they face a tariff of 20.7 per cent as they enter the EU. Paying import duties is evidently preferable to funding UK production at present.
BMW stresses that the Oxford factory has a sound future despite this decision. “Plant Oxford is at the heart of Mini production, manufacturing and exporting a range of models…around the world.”
Whether or not the plant will be assembling nothing but zero emission cars by 2030, as promised, is now unclear.
German EV sales fell by over 27 per cent in 2024 after subsidy removal. By contrast, EV registrations in the UK hit a record 381,970 units last year, and a 19.6 per cent market share. However, car makers were forced to make significant discounts to meet government EV sales quotas as outlined in the ZEV mandate.
The UK’s Labour Government is about to announce revisions to the scheme in coming weeks. BMW commented “We’re open to the Government’s suggestions on how they can boost [EV] demand.”
BMW’s review on the Oxford plant comes down to the question: “When is the right time to reintroduce battery electric car production at Oxford?”
“We are seeing uncertainty 1740347315 when we need to see a clear path to electromobility so we can make the full investment in Oxford.”
BMW has already spent some of the £600m earmarked on a new components logistics hub.
The investment pause reiterates the planning headache afflicting car makers as they manage the transition to electric. This seems to be proceeding at different rates for different markets.
All Minis may go rear-drive in future
And in a related development, electric Minis could switch from front-wheel drive to a rear-drive set-up, due to the adoption of a new BMW Group platform.
The Gen6 800V architecture is evidently a “huge leap forward”, with advantages like an increase in range and charging speeds, and a reduction in the cost of car manufacture.
The new Gen6 tech will be rolled out across all BMW product, including Minis, from their next-generation models.
The current Cooper and Aceman are front-driven and use architecture developed in partnership with Great Wall Motor. The next-generation Minis will swap onto the Neue Klasse platform.
The configurability of the new platform means single-motor cars have their powertrain sited at the rear axle.
BMW says a rear-wheel drive set-up is “better for dynamics”. So the platform can support only rear- and all-wheel drive set-ups.
Whether any future Minis will be FWD is not yet clear. However, any changes are in the distant future because Cooper, Aceman and Countryman have all been recently refreshed.
