MINI Electric surpases 11,000 units produced in the UK

LONDON: MINI in the UK has managed to achieve a production milestone as its plant in Oxford, England rolled out more than 11,000 examples of the Electric model since production began.

The MINI Electric first premiered in the UK in July 2019, during the brand’s 60th anniversary to mark the start of the British brand's roll-out of its first fully-electric model.

Since its launch, more than 3,000 MINI Electric orders have been placed in the UK alone and is priced at £24,900 (RM137,000)

The MINI Electric's drivetrain uses the very technology that initially developed for the BMW i3.

It has a 181hp electric motor that saps its electric juice from a 32.6kWh lithium-ion battery that gives it the capability to travel up to 270km.

The Electric is the second all-electric model in the brand's line-up, joining the Countryman Plug-In Hybrid.

The two models have proven to be rather popular so far - accounting for 19% of worldwide electrified MINI sales with 25% of which belonging to orders for the Countryman plug-in hybrid variant.

The company estimates that by next year, 33.3% of all orders could be fully-electric.

The original Mini, designed by Sir Alec Issigonis in 1959, was born out of the Suez crisis oil shortage and the demand for affordable motoring.

The MINI Electric is one of 13 electrified vehicles available under the BMW Group's brand portfolio.

This will be increased to a total of 25 electrified models on the road by the end of 2023, with more than half of those models fully electric.

In Europe, the BMW Group expects that electrified vehicles will account for 25% of sales by 2021, a third by 2025 and half by 2030.

As part of the company’s sustainability efforts within its corporate strategy, the goal is to have more than 7.0mil electrified BMW Group vehicles on the roads in ten years – around two-thirds of them with a fully-electric drive train.