German luxury automobile titan BMW revealed plans on Monday to pour a staggering £600 million ($750 million) into the construction of two new electric versions of the iconic Mini in the UK. The three-door Mini Cooper and the compact crossover, the Mini Aceman are slated for production by 2026, as confirmed by a company statement. Both will be manufactured at the Oxford and Swindon facilities of BMW, which are gearing up to shift entirely to electric vehicle production by the end of the decade.
Preserving the Mini brand, which BMW retained since acquiring it in 1994, the company gained a substantial investment from the UK government. However, the business and trade department declined to reveal a specific sum due to commercial sensitivity.
As part of a strategic rethink, this commitment by the German car manufacturing giant ensures the continuation of Mini production, projected to take place in Oxford, where the miniature car first took to the streets 64 years ago. This comes in contrast to what BMW said a year ago about potentially relocating all Mini production to China for efficiency purposes. “Mini has always been mindful of its roots - Oxford is and will remain the epicenter of the brand,” affirmed Stefanie Wurst, Head of the Mini brand at BMW.
BMW also confirmed plans to use a newly procured Chinese facility to manufacture identical models, thanks to a joint venture with Great Wall Motor. The company is actively anticipating exports from China starting 2024 and will produce the fresh Mini Countryman in Leipzig, Germany.
News of the recent investment led to a 1.3% uptick in BMW's stock.
This injection of funds from the UK government is a strategic attempt to secure 4,000 jobs between the Oxford and Swindon facilities, a part of a larger initiative to incentivize global automakers to build EVs and related components on UK soil.
This move follows a similar one by Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which, in July, announced its decision to invest £4 billion ($5 billion) in a new UK “gigafactory” to supply EV batteries for vehicles manufactured by its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover.
Amid rising concerns over the shortfall in the UK to produce EV batteries, Hargreaves Lansdown's Head of Money and Markets, Susannah Streeter, notes how this injection of capital from the government clearly helped clinch the BMW deal.
Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister, held the backing of car manufacturing in high regard, stating that “we are safeguarding thousands of jobs and continuosly growing our economy nationwide.”
