Mini: From 2031 only electric

At Mini, BMW is pulling the "combustion plug": From 2031, only fully electric models of the brand are to be produced, and combustion engines and plug-in hybrids will no longer be produced. Currently, the brand offers the Mini Cooper SE, built in Oxford, as an all-electric model and the Countryman as a plug-in hybrid - all other models run on combustion engines. In 2020, the brand sold around 292,000 cars, with eleven percent having hybrid powertrains and six percent with pure electric powertrains, and the trend is rising. In 2023, a purely electric Countryman assembled at the Leipzig plant is expected to replace the current SUVs, while a compact electric vehicle is being developed in China with the Chinese partner Great Wall, which will either be added to the lineup or positioned alongside the current compact models from Oxford.

Further models can only be speculated about: It was both considered to build a smaller model than the current "Standard Mini" at Great Wall, and a compact SUV below the Countryman was also on the table. However, the Clubman station wagon and the four-door version of the basic Mini have a rather uncertain future. By 2027, half of Mini's global sales are expected to come from electric models.

What does this mean?

With increasing battery capacities and little long-distance travel, the brand Mini can quickly be transformed into a pure electric brand. After the current models are already on track in the usual cycles, BMW will pull the plug in 2031. An entirely understandable and sensible decision.