BMW’s Mini model will launch a full-electric model of the Countryman compact SUV this yr because it prepares to increase its EV vary to a few fashions within the subsequent two years.

The brand new Countryman will supply more room than the outgoing automobile, BMW mentioned in an announcement. It would use the identical front-wheel-drive FAAR (from the German phrase Frontantriebsarchitektur) platform as smaller BMWs such because the 1 Sequence.

The Countryman shall be constructed at BMW’s plant in Leipzig, Germany, alongside BMW’s 1 Sequence, 2 Sequence Gran Coupe and a pair of Sequence Lively Tourer.

The Countryman manufacturing is being moved to Leipzig from contract producer VDL Nedcar within the Netherlands. Its manufacturing in Leipzig would be the first time a Mini has been constructed alongside BMW fashions and the primary time a Mini has been inbuilt Germany.

Along with the full-electric Countryman, the SUV will even be offered with inside combustion engines, BMW mentioned. It’s anticipated to drop the plug-in hybrid model, which was Mini’s first plug-in car.

New EVs for Oxford?

The electrical Countryman shall be adopted by the Aceman small electrical SUV and an electrical model of the brand new Mini hatchback, increasing Mini’s EV line-up forward of the model going all-electric in Europe in 2030, Stefanie Wurst, head of Mini, mentioned on the launch of the Aceman idea in September final yr.

However BMW can also construct new electrical Minis at its dwelling plant in Oxford, England. Initially the China JV was scheduled to construct all Mini model’s new electrical automobiles together with EVs to export to Europe. BMW is reconsidering the plan due to tensions between the West and China, Automotive Information Europe sister publication Automobilwoche reported.

The Oxford plant at the moment builds the Mini Electrical battery-powered mannequin, which is due to get replaced by the China-developed EVs.

Mini is about to announce a brand new funding value “lots of of hundreds of thousands of kilos,” Sky Information reported earlier this week.

Mini offered 34,863 full-electric hatchbacks final yr in Europe, in response to figures from Dataforce, out of a complete quantity of 98,788 for the mannequin. The model offered 43,910 Countrymans, of which 14,265 have been plug-in hybrids.