BMW Reveals Electric MINI Concept

German carmaker BMW has unveiled the outline design for the full-production electric version of the next Mini car.

With the rise in popularity of electric cars and the rise in global gas prices, a lot of manufacturers are looking for their own portion of the customer base. While giants like Tesla are paving the way (pun intended), other automakers are looking to carve out some consumer dollars for themselves, including luxury car maker, BMW.

New all-eelctric MINI will go into production in 2019, say BMW.

All systems go in 2019

Still in its concept car stage, BMW plans to move forward with an electric version of its highly popular Mini in 2019, complete with the iconic hexagonal grill and signature lights. While only very limited details are available at this time – such as a three-door model and 19-inch wheels – the car will unveil at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. 

From field test to real world

This isn’t BMW’s first effort at an electric Mini model, as the Mini E debuted in 2008. However, that vehicle wasn’t mass produced for consumer purchase, but rather for extensive road tests. With this announcement just ahead of the new year models reaching dealerships, it will be interesting to gauge the response to the announcement in terms of real-world car purchases. Consumers who were planning to take advantage of the large-scale inventory clearances ahead of the 2018 vehicles might be swayed into waiting for news of the new Mini Electric.

Huge leap in production

BMW plans for electric vehicles to make up as much as 25% of its sales within the next eight or nine years. Sales of battery-powered BMW models have totalled about 100,000 cars since 2013, a figure which it plans to match in 2017 alone!