Buoyed by strong demand for its flagship BMW i3 electric car, luxury German carmaker BMW has announced it will build fully electric models of its Mini small cars at a new plant in China.
BMW has established a new joint venture company named Spotlight Automotive Ltd with its Chinese partner Great Wall Motors Company Ltd to build these electric vehicles (EVs) at a factory to be built in the city of Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu province starting 2020. This new factory will eventually employ 3,000 people, after its completion in 2022.
"This is another important step towards the Mini brand's electrified future," said BMW in a statement.
BMW board member Nicolas Peter said the Zhangjiagang factory will assemble more than 160,000 Mini EVs every year. He also said BMW and Great Wall Motor will invest a combined $715 million in the project.
Peter revealed Great Wall Motor will also build some of its own brand models at the plant apart from BMW's all-electric Mini. He said Spotlight Automotive emphasizes "the enormous importance of the Chinese market for us" at BMW.
BMW has set itself the extremely ambitious global goal of assembling more than one million fully-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids by the end of 2021. In July 2017, BMW announced an electric Mini model will be built at the Cowley plant, in Oxford. Those first Mini E models will reach markets by early 2020.
BMW has owned Mini, an iconic British marque long synonymous with small but fast cars, since the year 2000. Demand for BMW's flagship BMW i3 electric car has jumped by 20 percent this year compared with 2018.
Great Wall is China's largest sport utility vehicle (SUV) and pick-up truck producer. It sells passenger cars and trucks under the Great Wall brand and SUVs under the Haval and WEY brands.
BMW competitor Volkswagen is BMW is building two Chinese factories to build EVs next year. These huge factories will have a combined production capacity of 600,000 EVs every year.
