FEATURE Review MINI COOPER NBX MINI COOPER EV 2032
Next MINI Cooper EV Won’t Be Built In China
With Final Decision Coming In October
Sep 16, 26
Sources have told MotoringFile that BMW will be making a final decision on production of the next-generation MINI Cooper EV in October, and it won’t be China, at least not for the car’s main global production. A version built locally for the Chinese market specifically hasn’t been ruled out, but the current arrangement, building the car in China for global markets, is reportedly done.
What we don’t know yet where the next Cooper EV production will go. Based on sources we understand that both Oxford England (current home of the petrol Cooper) and Leipzig Germany (the current home of the Countryman) are the leading candidates. However, from what we’re hearing, there’s a clear front-runner.
All Roads Point To Leipzig
BMW has centralized its small EV production at Leipzig for a while now, and that pattern is exactly why it’s the name coming up as the likely destination for the next Cooper EV. What we’ve heard about the car’s likely move to BMW’s Gen6 platform, the same architecture underpinning the iX3, the upcoming i3 saloon, and the next Countryman, only reinforces it. Leipzig already builds the current Countryman on FAAR alongside the X1 and X2. If the next Cooper shares Gen6 with the Countryman, Leipzig is where BMW’s own playbook says it goes.
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Why This Still Matters Even Before The Decision Lands
We’ve asked this exact question before: where does BMW actually build the next Cooper EV, given that the current J01 has been made in China through the Great Wall Motor joint venture since launch, and Oxford’s own electric Cooper plans were paused once already over UK-EU tariff exposure. A China exit for global production, even a partial one, is the clearest signal yet that BMW is done building its most important MINI outside a market it can control the tariff exposure on.
Seen next to Volkswagen’s ongoing crisis, which we argued was largely a story about tariff exposure, Chinese competition and cost structure catching up all at once, this reads as BMW making exactly the kind of move VW didn’t make early enough. Moving Cooper EV production out of China, whatever plant it lands at, is a hedge against those same pressures rather than a reaction to them after the fact.
Where This Leaves Things
BMW is expected to settle this in the coming weeks. Until it does, here’s where we’d draw the confidence lines: China being out for main production is the part we trust most. Leipzig is the strong favourite based on how BMW has built its small EV lineup so far. Oxford being fully out isn’t something we’re prepared to say yet. We’ll update this the moment BMW makes it official.
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