The electric MINI is moving to Germany because of Brexit

It was to be expected that Brexit would lead companies with interests in Great Britain to take measures against this unpopular decision. Quite a few of them have a subsidiary in the country and, although most have not yet made final decisions about what to do, some of those decisions are starting to emerge. The most recent one affects the production of the 100% electric MINI that the brand plans to launch in 2019.

Apparently, BMW, the parent company of the brand of the small and popular city car, has decided to move production of this 100% zero-emission version to its German plants. This information has not yet been confirmed by the company, but it could become a reality during the second half of this year. The consequences would be quite painful for BMW’s British subsidiary. The loss of confidence in the Oxford plant could cause the investments planned for it to be redirected to Germany.

Now, apparently, the time has come to crunch many numbers, assess the consequences that a resolution one way or the other might have, and learn the outcome of the negotiations between the British government and MINI’s managers. If no interesting agreements are reached for BMW, production of the electric MINI will move to the German plants of Regensburg and Leipzig, which would receive those investments originally earmarked for the British plant. In addition, part of the production of the model’s electrical systems would be transferred to the Dutch company Nedcar.

This electric model will incorporate all the innovations the brand has introduced in the BMW i3 and will allow the drivetrain used in that model to be efficiently adapted to the MINI platform. None of these circumstances, including the move of production to Germany, has delayed the car’s launch date, so MINI and BMW want everything to be resolved quickly and practically so that continuous work on developing the project can begin. The result of all this? We will see soon enough.

Via | Carscoops