Mini to launch its last combustion engine car in 2025 ahead of all-electric future

Mini has confirmed that it will become an all-electric brand by the early 2030s after announcing that its final combustion-engined car will be launched in 2025.

The switch to all-electric powertrains has been expected for quite some time but the latest announcements from the British marque set out a timetable for the changes as part of wider plans for its BMW parent group to embrace electrification.

BMW wants half of all its new car sales to be fully electric by 2030 and says that Mini will play a “pioneering role” in that process as “the urban brand is absolutely ideal for electric mobility”.

The Oxford-built Mini hatchback is already available in EV form and will be joined in the line-up by a battery-powered version of the Mini Countryman’s successor in 2023. This model will also be available with a combustion engine but 2025 will see the introduction of the brand’s final ICE model.

By 2027 the brand expects half of all its sales to be fully electric vehicles and by the early 2030s it will have phased out all ICE models in favour of EVs.

Although the replacement for the Countryman will be built in Germany, Mini has also said the Oxford plant has a secure future as the brand develops more EVs.

Mini also revealed that from 2023 it would be producing electric vehicles based on its new EV architecture in China, in partnership with local manufacturer Great Wall.