Last Gasoline-powered MINI to be Built in 2025
At the BMW Group Annual Conference today, Chairman Oliver Zipse announced that MINI will be the first BMW Group brand to go fully electric.
More specifically, the automaker will release the last model with a combustion-engine variant in 2025. By the early 2030s, MINI will be exclusively fully electric.
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It’s the third car brand to make such an announcement so far in 2021. Jaguar said it will sell EVs only by 2025, while Volvo plans to do the same by 2030.
An all-electric MINI lineup is an idea that seemingly started in 2019 back when BMW partnered with Great Wall Motor to develop and build EVs in China. With today’s news, it now looks like the brand will offer one more generation of cars equipped with internal-combustion engines before making the switch.
At the moment, MINI has the fully electric Cooper SE and the plug-in hybrid Countryman S E. It’s also working on a battery-powered variant of its small crossover and JCW performance models. A new model larger than the Countryman is reportedly coming, as well, including with an electric option.
Overall, the BMW Group plans to sell 13 fully electric models by 2023 (most of them overseas) with at least one in each market segment. Rolls-Royce, which is famous for its large, opulent automobiles and powerful combustion engines, will also offer electric variants.
