BMW to stop producing electric Minis in the UK
- The carmaker BMW, owner of the British brand Mini, announced last year that the battery electric Mini produced in China would also be produced in Europe from 2026, at the Oxford site in England, for the European market, following the same strategy as Volvo with its EX30 model which is currently produced in China but will also be produced in Europe (in Ghent in Belgium) from April 2025 for the European market. This strategy makes it possible to avoid the European additional tariffs system applied to battery electric models produced in China and in certain countries to avoid the system which removes ecological bonuses on battery electric cars produced in China.
- But BMW has just announced at the start of 2025 that it is abandoning the production of the battery electric Mini in the United Kingdom and will therefore only maintain production in China.
- This decline can be explained by the anticipation of electric car sales not being as high as expected (sales stagnated in Europe in 2024), even though the figures for January/February 2025 highlight a real increase of the European BEV market (+31.4%). Another possible explanation is the high cost of industrialization in the United Kingdom since the BREXIT. Japanese company Honda closed its Swindon factory because of this.
- Note that BMW could reverse its 2025 decision if circumstances become much more favorable. In 2024, the Mini Cooper Electric was sold at 21,000 units in Europe.