It will morph into a purely electric brand by the early 2030s.
With the car industry gradually transitioning to electric vehicles, prepare to hear more and more automakers signal the demise of the combustion engine. Mini has such an announcement to make today, revealing plans to introduce its very last ICE-powered car in 2025. The British brand will fully switch to EVs “by the early 2030s.”
The disclosure was made this morning by BMW chairman Oliver Zipse during the company’s Annual Conference 2021 that also included an official reveal of the i4 in production form. Mini will be the first brand of the BMW Group to completely abandon the internal combustion engine and embrace a fully electric future kick-started by the Cooper SE.
Gallery: 2022 Mini Cooper
Mini estimates fully electric vehicles will account for at least half of its annual sales by 2027 prior to the beginning of the next decade when the last car with a combustion engine will roll off the assembly line. Meanwhile, 2023 will be the year when the next-generation Countryman will enter production at the Leipzig plant in Germany with both traditional and all-electric powertrains.
At the same time, Mini is working on a purpose-built EV platform with Great Wall Motor to introduce new electric cars from 2023 onwards. Every single new car launched by the British brand after 2025 will do away with the combustion engine altogether as part of the BMW Group’s green push that also includes electric Rolls-Royce models, according to Oliver Zipse.
BMW says its Mini sub-brand will “play a pioneering role going forward, as the urban brand is absolutely ideal for electric mobility.” It will remain a fully global brand in the inevitable EV era, “with a footprint in every region of the world.”
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