BMW’s Mini brand to go all-electric from 2030

KUALA LUMPUR: The beginning of the next decade would be surely significant for the automotive industry as plenty of automakers around the world have announced their plans to go fully electric by 2030. The recent one added to the list is BMW-owned MINI. Confirming the rumour that came earlier this week, BMW announced that the MINI will phase out the models powered by the internal-combustion engine and become an electric-only brand by 2030.

The automaker made this announcement at its annual general meeting held on Wednesday in Munich, Germany, where the global reveal of the 2022 i4 electric sports sedan took the centre stage.

According to the currently revealed plan, MINI will introduce its final internal-combustion engine car in 2025 and will only be selling pure EVs by the early 2030s. Last year, MINI sold around 292,000 vehicles, mainly ICE models, along with 11% hybrid and 6% electric versions.

BMW also has plans to offer electric versions of its several models with at least one EV in every market segment where it competes by the end of 2023. The BMW X1, 5 Series, and 7 Series are among the brand’s first models to get electric powertrains. The automaker is expecting to gain at least 50% EV sales at the global level by 2030.

Coming back to MINI, the iconic brand currently has the Cooper SE electric car which just received an update for 2022. Now, the company is rigorously working on a high-performance electric powertrain for the upcoming John Cooper Works models, along with an electric version for the forthcoming Countryman model. A new crossover bigger than the Countryman is also on the automaker’s cards with an option of an electric powertrain. 

Besides MINI, Ford, and Jaguar Land Rover also revealed their pure electrification strategies in recent times. Audi, Nissan, Bentley, Maserati, and Volvo, are some of the other automakers having roadmaps of becoming 100% electric, in one or the other way.

Also read: 2021 Mini Countryman launched in Malaysia, price starts at RM 244,265