BMW says electric version of Mini to be built in Oxford

BMW on Tuesday said it had chosen its plant in Oxford, England as the location to produce an electric Mini from 2019, confirming an earlier Reuters report.

BMW's management board, which met on Tuesday, considered several locations for building a zero-emissions version of its compact city car, including Born, the Netherlands and a location in Germany, before choosing Britain.

"The electric MINI’s electric drivetrain will be built at the BMW Group’s e-mobility centre at Plants Dingolfing and Landshut in Bavaria before being integrated into the car at Plant Oxford, which is the main production location for the MINI 3 door model," BMW said in a statement.

Mini makes around 60 percent of its approximately 360,000 compact cars a year at Oxford, but BMW has built up an alternative manufacturing base in the Netherlands amid concerns about Britain's suitability as an export hub after Brexit.

A spokesman for BMW said on Tuesday the group had not received any reassurances from the British government over post-Brexit trading arrangements.

BMW, which owns the Mini and Rolls-Royce brands, already produces hybrid or fully battery powered vehicles at 10 plants worldwide after overhauling its manufacturing system to make combustion engined, plug-in hybrid or fully electric drive models.

By 2025 BMW expects electrified vehicles to make up 15 percent to 25 percent of vehicle sales, the company said.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that BMW's Oxford factory in England was the favoured location for manufacture of an electric version of the Mini, with the vehicle's powertrain being delivered from factories in Dingolfing and Landshut.