BMW are going to cease all production of the Mini Ev & build them in China & Germany from next year
They will still make ICE versions of the Mini at their Cowley Oxford plant for markets in the USA. Japan.
Their joint venture with Great Wall Motors will see the Mini’s built in Baoding, China.
The new 2023 Mini EV will be a re-branded Great Wall motors BEV & they could easily make the ICE version there too.
The next big lump of brown stuff to hit the fans for new ICE vehicles in the UK/EU will be 2025 & 2027 due to new emission/pollution standards & I cant see BMW investing any more money into the Oxford plant as the 2030 ban on ICE vehicles looms.
I can see a multitude of Chinese BEV manufacturer who will snap up that plant ASAP to manufacture BEV’s here & not have to pay tariffs & reduce transport costs, BYD alone have bought eight car transporter ships recently with two more on order from South Korean ship yards. Nio, X-Pang, BYD Great Wall motors etc are already setting up dealerships all across Europe. electrive.com/2022/10/17/bm … cowley-uk/
lancpudn:
BMW are going to cease all production of the Mini Ev & build them in China & Germany from next year
They will still make ICE versions of the Mini at their Cowley Oxford plant for markets in the USA. Japan.
Their joint venture with Great Wall Motors will see the Mini’s built in Baoding, China.
The new 2023 Mini EV will be a re-branded Great Wall motors BEV & they could easily make the ICE version there too.
The next big lump of brown stuff to hit the fans for new ICE vehicles in the UK/EU will be 2025 & 2027 due to new emission/pollution standards & I cant see BMW investing any more money into the Oxford plant as the 2030 ban on ICE vehicles looms.
I can see a multitude of Chinese BEV manufacturer who will snap up that plant ASAP to manufacture BEV’s here & not have to pay tariffs & reduce transport costs, BYD alone have bought eight car transporter ships recently with two more on order from South Korean ship yards. Nio, X-Pang, BYD Great Wall motors etc are already setting up dealerships all across Europe. electrive.com/2022/10/17/bm … cowley-uk/
Honda seemed to reckon closing the Swindon plant, and taking production back to Japan, a sound idea.
I dont know how future transport costs will stack up, but they arent mugs.
If you were a Chinese manufacturer, (and bucked the trend by looking around the west for plant) would you build a factory inside a market of 66m persons on an island, or in a contiguous market of 445million?
Wouldn`t you think of any future tariffs applying to a smaller market or a bigger one?
Yeah there is that about it being in an isolated market since we sanctioned ourselves from Europe but It wont be much use in the coming years for ICE car manufacturers either as ICE bans mount around the world.
When I was doing engineering 30 yrs ago they were sending machining / fabrication work abroad , there was even talk of them opening a factory , according to them it was x amount cheaper than having it done here , but the quality was appalling, half of it had to be scrapped , the other half re-engineered
So I’m no fan of brexit , but I personally don’t think brexit has anything to do with this , as I say engineering work was going abroad 30 yrs ago
