China ready to electrify modern icon
INDUSTRY NEWS
BMW is allegedly negotiating co-operation with Great Wall Motors to build cars together in China.
Sources inside BMW insist that the Bavarian and Chinese car makers plan to work together to build Minis in China.
Great Wall, the parent company of Haval, is the biggest SUV maker in China, while BMW is becoming increasingly spooked by the state of Britain’s Brexit negotiations and is desperate to broaden the brand’s manufacturing base outside the European island.
Some Minis are already built in The Netherlands, though the bulk of its engines and cars come from the UK.
BMW already has a joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, though Great Wall is a cleanskin, without a foreign joint venture partner and is set to begin building its own cars in the US.
BMW is set to launch a fullline electric version of most of its Mini models, and a joint venture with Great Wall would allow the electric Minis to be sold in the world’s biggest car market.
DAY-TO-DAY MOBILITY
The German car maker that owns the Mini brand, revealed its Mini Electric concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show recently. It is said by Mini to offer a “window into how pure-electric, day-to-day mobility might look in the years ahead”.
Naturally, that looks a lot like a Mini, with Mini design language and proportions, most of which will carry over into the brand’s first full-series production electric car in 2019.
“The Mini Electric concept offers a thrilling preview of the all-electric production vehicle. Mini and electrification make a perfect match,” says Harald Krüger, chairman of the board of management of BMW.
With its familiar round-eyed Mini nose, kitsch half Union Jack rear lights and race-bred aerodynamic flaring on the side skirts, the electric concept seems to work as hard at not losing rusted-on Mini fans as it embarks in a new direction.
“The Mini Electric concept is a quintessential Mini — compact, agile, simply the ideal companion for everyday driving,” says BMW Group’s senior vicepresident of design Adrian van Hooydonk. “At the same time, it conveys a new take on the concept of sportiness. Indeed, aerodynamics and lightweight design aren’t just important in the world of motorsport; they are also essential factors for maximising electric range.
DISTINCTIVE TWIST
“The car’s surfaces have a sense of precision and contemporary clarity about them that lends added impact to the car’s efficient character. Plus, striking accents and vivid contrasts give the exterior that distinctive Mini twist,” he says.
At this stage the Mini Electric is just a concept, but it looks likely the production version will be revealed late in 2018.