Recently, some media reported that the BMW Group will stop the production of electric MINI models at the Oxford plant in the UK and switch to the production of Spotlight, a joint venture between BMW and Great Wall. In this regard, BMW Group BMW China insiders revealed that BMW will invest another 10 billion yuan to expand its high-voltage battery production center in Shenyang and expand its investment in battery projects in China. At the same time, it said that information about MINI’s production plan will be announced in due course in the future; we speculate that MINI’s electric vehicle production is expected to settle in Zhangjiagang factory.
The rumor about the relocation of the BMW Group’s MINI brand production line stems from an interview recently given by Stefanie Wurst, the new head of BMW’s MINI brand, in which she said that the Oxford factory will always be the home of MINI, but it is not designed for electric vehicles. The car is ready for refurbishment and investment, and BMW’s next-generation pure electric model, the MINI Aceman, will be produced in China instead. In addition, she also said that it would be very inefficient to produce both electric and gasoline vehicles on the same production line.
In February this year, at an internal online communication meeting of the BMW Group, an internal executive broke the news that in addition to the two pure electric models cooperating with Great Wall, the gasoline version of the MINI will also be officially put into production at the Shenyang plant. The Zhangjiagang factory of Spotlight Motors not only produces electric MINIs, but also produces pure electric models of Great Wall. Among them, the models of Great Wall are mainly exported, while BMW MINI electric cars are partly supplied to the Chinese market, and the other is exported overseas.
In September this year, as BMW MINI’s first pure electric concept car, it was unveiled in Shanghai, which is also its first show in Asia. It was reported that it is expected to go on sale in 2024.
It is reported that BMW and Great Wall Motors established a joint venture Spotlight Automobile in 2018. The total investment of the Spotlight Automobile production base project is about 5.1 billion yuan. This is BMW’s first pure electric vehicle joint venture project in the world, with a planned production capacity of 160,000 vehicles per year. Great Wall Motors previously stated that the cooperation between the two parties is not only at the production level, but also includes joint research and development of pure electric vehicles in China’s new energy vehicle market. It is expected that the future MINI pure electric vehicles and new products of Great Wall Motors are expected to be put into production here.
Post time: Oct-19-2022