New Mini Countryman To Launch In 2023 With Electric Option

Last week, BMW Group confirmed that the new-gen Mini Countryman will go into production in 2023. The manufacturing of the new Mini Countryman will be transferred to BMW’s plant in Leipzig, Germany. Interestingly, it is revealed that the upcoming model will come with both internal combustion and electric powertrain options.

The outgoing Mini Countryman has been around since 2016. The production of the current model takes place at the VDL Nedcar’s plant in the Netherlands. From the beginning, the outgoing model has been offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain.

With the new generation, the production will be moved to the Leipzig plant. Established in 2005, this plant has been in charge of the manufacturing of 1 Series, 2 Series models as well as the electric i3. Recently, it is reported that BMW has invested around £270m to expand the annual production capability of this facility to around 350,000 units (both ICE and electric vehicles). Moreover, BMW is planning to invest £89m to set up an electric drive component manufacturing facility.

In related news, BMW Group announced a broader plan for the electronic vehicle production across its Europe-based plants. As a part of this plan, BMW will transfer the internal-combustion engine production from Munich, Germany to other facilities in Austria and the UK. In the meanwhile, the Munich plant will shift toward producing electric vehicles.

The British car brand is working on a new crossover SUV. The second crossover SUV from Mini is expected to share a similar size with the Countryman. However, this model will be purely electric. It will be the first vehicles to be developed by Mini-Great Wall Motors Spotlight Automotive joint venture. Following the new-gen Mini Countryman, Mini and will launch the third SUV which will be bigger than the Countryman.