Mini Planning 8 to 10 Variants of New Car, Including a Hybrid

MiniMINI (BMW)Germany, 2000 > present15 models
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is barely a month away from revealing the third generation Mini CooperMINI (BMW) MINI VisionGermany, 2013 > 2013. It has already revealed that it will use a 1.5-liter three-cylinder turbo engine and 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo from its new modular engine family, and it will be the first car on sale to use its new UKL front-wheel drive platform. Mini’s head Peter Schwarzenbauer is talking about BMW’sBMWGermany, 1918 > present87 models
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further plans for the company including future variants and sales plans.

The first third generation Minis will go on sale in Europe and the United States in spring 2014 with full availability in the summer.

According to Schwarzenbauer, BMW plans to have eight to 10 Mini variants that will all share the UKL platform. However, the company has not yet decided whether all of those will be direct replacements for current Minis or whether it will add new variants.

“There will be electrification within the Mini brand, including a plug-in hybrid,” said Schwarzenbauer.

Some of the new models will be built at the NedCar plant in the Netherlands but only once the Mini Oxford plant reaches its capacity of 240,000 cars. The specific models built at NedCar have not been decided. Magna Steyr will still build the next generation Countryman.

There are no plans to build Minis in China because the country only represents about 10% of Mini global sales. It would rather focus on Europe and North America.

Schwarzenbauer thinks that Mini will beat its 301,000 unit sales record from 2012 for 2013. It has sold 224,280 cars through September of this year. But 2014 will be tough because Mini will start phasing out the current models in favor of the new generation.

Source: Automotive News Europe