New Mini Cooper was revealed last week at the Munich motor show
BMW poised to announce £600m investment in Oxford Mini factory and Swindon body pressing plant
BMW is poised to confirm a £600 million investment into the Mini factory near Oxford, which will see the site adapted to build the new-generation Mini Cooper and Mini Aceman EVs.
It is widely reported that the company will confirm UK production of the two new cars from 2026. The electric Cooper and Aceman will initially be built in Zhangjiagang, China.
The move is confirmation of Autocar’s previous report that electric cars would return to Oxford following the exit of the current-generation Mini Electric in the coming months. The UK plant will also build petrol versions of the new Cooper – in 3dr, 5dr and convertible forms – until 2030, when it will switch to 100% EV production.
Last week, at the Munich motor show unveiling of the new Mini Cooper, brand boss Stefanie Wurst told Autocar: “To people in the UK, I can still see that Mini is regarded as your baby, because it was born there and has been there for a long time. We still call Oxford the heart of our brand.
“I hope and I think we take good care of it. Mini has a very strong heritage, and that is being modernised and given a future now, and I hope that aspect is felt in the UK as well.”
The electric Cooper and Aceman – based on a new platform co-developed with Chinese joint venture partner Great Wall Motors – will also be built in China for the local market, and for global markets between their launch in 2024 and Oxford coming online for EVs in 2026.
The UK government’s Advanced Propulsion Fund is said to have contributed £57m of the overall £600m investment, which will chiefly fund an extension of the current body shop, the construction of a new area for battery installation and new logistics facilities in Oxford and Swindon, Mini said.
In a statement seen by the BBC, prime minister Rishi Sunak hailed BMW’s investment as “another shining example of how the UK is the best place to build cars of the future”.
Business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, meanwhile, said it showed “the government’s plan for the automotive sector is working”.
The news comes just days after Stellantis switched on its new electric van production line at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, previously home to Vauxhall Astra production.
No battery supplier has been named for Mini’s Oxford-built EVs, but BMW already works with Samsung and CATL, the latter of which is building a battery factory in Germany.
This year marks 110 years of the Cowley factory, which pioneered mass car production in the UK with the ‘bullnose’ Morris saloon before the outbreak of World War One. It began producing BMW’s first-generation Mini in 2000 and 19 years later began building the electric version of the current Mini Hatch. It employs some 3400 workers today.
The larger new Mini Countryman SUV – available with EV and petrol power – will be built exclusively in Leipzig, Germany, where it will share a line with its BMW X1 sibling.
