BMW Group invests in electric future for the U.K.

The BMW Group has announced that it is investing more than $1.02 billion (£600 million) in its MINI plants at Oxford and Swindon. The news secures the two plants as manufacturing sites for the brand, after it first announced that the MINI Cooper 3-Door will be produced at BMW Leipzig in May 2023.

The investment will see existing production lines at the Oxford plant being developed further, with an extension of the current body shop and a new area for battery installation. Additional logistics facilities will be built on both the Oxford and at the body-pressing facility in Swindon.

MINI Plant Oxford employs over 3,400 highly skilled employees and apprentices who together build up to 1,000 MINIs a day

The Oxford plant has now been confirmed to see production of two new all-electric models from 2026: The 3-Door MINI Cooper and the MINI Aceman compact crossover (read about the MINI Aceman concept here). These new models will join the combustion-powered versions of the MINI 3-Door and MINI 5-Door, as well as a new MINI Convertible, which are set to be assembled at the site from 2024.

The MINI Oxford plant is further expected to only manufacture electric models by 2030. The site has been producing the outgoing MINI Electric since 2019. MINI expects the site to reach a production capacity of around 200,000 cars per year in the medium term, with both combustion-powered and electric vehicles initially being built on the same production line.

Production of the new MINI Countryman is set to begin at BMW Group plant Leipzig in the coming weeks. Production of new all-electric MINI Cooper 3-door and Aceman models will also being in China at a new manufacturing plant in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province as part of a joint venture with Great Wall Motor, with exports expected to begin in early 2024.