BMW Group’s new battery-electric Mini, a variant of the brand's core three-door model, will go into production in 2019.
The fully electric car will increase the choice of Mini powertrains to include petrol and diesel internal combustion engines, a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric vehicle.
The electric Mini’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW group's e-mobility centre at its Dingolfing and Landshut plants, in Bavaria, before being integrated into the car at its Oxford plant, which is the main production location for the Mini three-door model.
"BMW Group plants in Dingolfing and Landshut play a leading role within our global production network as the company's global competence centre for electric mobility,” BMW management board member for production Oliver Zipse said in a statement.
The new fully electric Mini is one of a series of electric models to be launched by the BMW and Mini brands in the coming years.
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, BMW Group expects electric vehicles to account for between 15% and 25% of sales.
However, Zipse noted that factors such as regulation, incentives and charging infrastructure will play a major role in determining the scale of electrification from market to market.
To react quickly and appropriately to customer demand, the BMW group has developed a uniquely flexible system across its global production network.
“In the future, the BMW group production system will create structures that enable our production facilities to build models with a combustion engine, plug-in hybrid or fully electric drive train at the same time.”