The Brexit saga is far from over and a new report from Reuters comes to emphasize that. According to them, the next generation MINI is delayed due to the Brexit uncertainty. The current MINI hatch model has been on the market since 2014 and is built on the UKL1 platform.
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But the new generation might not be around the corner as many have assumed. “The lifespan of this platform has been extended,” BMW spokesman Maximilian Schoeberl told Reuters. “For cost reasons and because of Brexit.”
Most of MINI’s cars are currently built in Oxford and in Born, the Netherlands, and any next generation car would require investments into the production lines of both factories.
Therefore, BMW is taking a cautious approach with further investments until the negotiations between Britain and the European Union come to an end.
“If tariffs are in the range of zero and 5 percent, the business case would not dramatically change,” BMW Chief Executive Oliver Zipse said last year, referring to Oxford’s status as a production and export hub for the MINI.
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The Bavarians have often stated that the higher tariffs on exports to and from Britain may force them to consider shifting more production to the Netherlands.
BMW produced 211,660 cars in the Netherlands in 2018, a 39 percent increase from 2017. BMW uses contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar to build the BMW X1, the MINI hatch, MINI convertible and MINI Countryman models at its Dutch plant.
It was previously reported we won’t see a new generation Mini until 2023 at the earliest as BMW is still accessing the cost to make one with their Chinese partner and it may go full electric which I think is a bad move.
It’s the most reasonable move ever. MINI is a city car, basically no one is doing 1000km road trips with it. Of course, there’s always exceptions, but leave that aside. It’s mainly used for urban areas or around.
Therefore it definitely makes sense to go fully E. At least with the small models.
For countryman and clubman they might not do that for now…