Cowley plant to build BMW's electric Mini

The new battery-electric Mini will be a variant of the brand’s 3 door car and follows BMW’s corporate strategy of offering its brands and models with a fully-electric or plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

The electric Mini will go into production in 2019, increasing the choice of Mini powertrains to include petrol and diesel engines, a plug-in hybrid and a battery electric variant.

The electric Mini’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW Group’s e-mobility plants in Dingolfing and Landshut, Bavaria before being integrated in Cowley, which is the main production facility for the Mini 3 door model. According to Dom Tribe, management consultant and industrial sector specialist at supply chain firm, Vendigital, the plant was updated about 3.5 years ago and the tooling, equipment and automated robots in situ are only part-way through their lifecycle.

Tribe said: “The company has invested heavily in the facility at Cowley in recent years and there is plenty of production capacity to build the all-electric mini as customers are likely to choose them in place of standard petrol or diesel variants.