MINI Countryman Electric confirmed, to launch in 2023
BMW Group has reaffirmed that it plans to launch a MINI Countryman Electric in the next generation series. The new MINI Countryman will be the third generation of the British brand’s largest model and will grow into a proper SUV.
MINI Countryman Electric production
In November 2020, BMW Group announced that the third-gen MINI Countryman range would encompass a MINI Countryman Electric. In the group’s annual press conference in March, the company repeated that future full-electric variants include the successor to the MINI Countryman.
The BMW Group Plant Leipzig (Germany) will be the mother plant of both next-gen MINI Countryman and the first-ever MINI Countryman electric, with the production of the new generation cars beginning in 2023. China is likely to get both from a domestic factory of Great Wall Motor through the joint venture company Spotlight Automotive.
Positioning
The 2023 MINI Countryman will measure bigger than the second-gen model Bernd Körber, Head, MINI, told autoexpress.co.uk last year. The Countryman will move half a segment above.
Further, Körber said that the 2023 MINI Countryman will belong to the BMW X1 class (compact or C). For reference, the Mk2 MINI Countryman measures 169.7 inches in length, 71.7 inches in width, and 61.3 inches in height, and has a 105.1-inch wheelbase. While the MINI Countryman will grow moving to its next generation, the MINI hatchback will see a reduction in exterior dimensions. This will create enough space for the rumoured MINI Paceman electric SUV-coupe to join the range.
Platform & Range
Replacing the Countryman plug-in hybrid electric, the MINI Countryman EV has some big shoes to fill. Körber told Auto Express that he does not see the use case for PHEVs once the range goes above 400 km (250 miles).
The nearly two-year-old Volvo XC40 Recharge offers a range of 418 km (260 miles)*, while the Mercedes EQA that debuted in January 2021 can travel 426 km (265 miles)* on a full charge. Moreover, the latter would gain a variant that can provide a range of more than 500 km (311 miles)* later this year. For competitiveness, the MINI Countryman Electric also should achieve a maximum range of around 500 km (311 miles)*.
*In the WLTP cycle
According to a report Autocar UK published in March, the next-gen MINI Countryman will be baked on the new multi-energy FAAR platform and measure at least 4.5 metres or 177.2 inches long. That would mark a significant improvement of 7.5 inches over the current model, meaning better legroom and knee-room and maybe even more cargo volume. The icing on the cake is the character of the MINI Countryman which will also see a major change such that it looks more like an SUV than a crossover. What the platform is not, however, is a skateboard designed only for electric vehicles, as you would find under a Hyundai Ioniq 5 or a Mercedes EQS.
MINI is going all-electric
Of the three BMW Group brands BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce, MINI will go fully electric first. The German conglomerate has revealed that all MINI models from the early 2030s will run only on electricity. The company plans to cease the development of combustion-engine models in 2025. Even the last combustion engine MINI will have an electrified variant.