If car factories aren't switching from making ICE cars to making electric cars, they’re living a charmed life.
Of the five major car makers building vehicles in Britain, four have now confirmed plans or are already building EVs in the UK: JLR, Nissan, Stellantis and now Mini.
Only Toyota is yet to reveal its hand – a situation that's understood to be related to what concession the UK government will allow for hybrids to stay on sale from 2030 to 2035 before the full switch to EVs in 2035.
The future of UK car manufacturing in the electric era has long felt uncertain, but with each passing announcement, positivity grows that the car-building industry can not only survive but thrive.
The Mini announcement is hugely significant. However, Oxford's path to going fully electric is an unusual one.
Oxford will actually stop making EVs from early next year in the Mini Cooper’s next generation and once again focus solely on making petrol cars. In the current line-up, electric versions of the hatchback are built alongside the petrol ones.
In the fourth-generation hatch, unveiled at the Munich motor show last week, from Oxford will come petrol versions and from China will come electric versions.
The two will look identical but be different underneath, the Oxford model using underpinnings heavily updated from the current model and the Chinese model using a new EV platform co-developed with Great Wall Motor.
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You'd be mad to invest in Britian right now. You've had Brexit, you're now having to certify your cars for both the EU market and UK (doubling your cost) and whilst Boris was the worst PM in history who deliberately set out to damage the UK for his own vanity, you've now got an idiot in charge.
Look at the harm they've done to our EU exports. Look at the harm they've done to the economy. This isn't a "Conservative" government with the amount of xenophobia, racism, and hate they've created.
They've turned the UK from a safe place to invest in to one that is no place to invest. Brexit already cost us the Honda factory. We lost investment from Mercedes. Brexit has cost the UK work and job.
And BMW want Great Wall to buy the Oxford plant! They want Great Wall to update the factory for electrification. The Chinese aren't daft - they'll know the problem Brexit created getting their products into the EU and with the rules of origin and how much duty they'd have to add to each car. Would it be worth continuing with Oxford given all the extra costs and red tape that Boris added with his Brexit?
Watch Harry's Garage video this week on his visit to Lotus. Brexit is the reason why the EU are gettting their Emiras quicker than the UK. Brexit is now meaning two certification processes, and Lotus picked the EU route as the best way forward for them. They're even building cars for China before the UK ones! Thank Brexit for that too.
It's time we started stating the damage that Brexit has done to the UK and not try to appease those who voted for it. Maybe if they start to accept the damage they've done will they realise they got lied to by Boris and Farage. Maybe then we'll get our rightful place in the EU back.
You remoaners need to step reading the Guardian and moaning all the time. Why don't you the war in Ukraine on Brexit while you're at it.
The article clearly states the electric mini will be back. I guess that doesn't fit your narrative though eh? Facts so get in the way of a good rant comrade.
And here comes the typical insults from Brexiters who won't accept the damge they've done to the UK. They're still in denial.
Honda decided it was better to build the cars in Japan and ship them over to the UK & EU than continue with Swindon. They had ships loaded with the equipment to update Swindon and had them turned around. They simply got fed up waiting to find out what Brexit actually meant for them. Hard / Soft / what barriers to their market they'd be. In the end, they made for them the right choice.
This is a company that decided it was better to concentrate on their Japanese factories where wages are high and it is difficult to find staff. That's how little they trusted Britain being out of the EU.
You seem to have the impression that it's quite easy for a company to build a new factory, but it takes a massive investment. Closing a factory is a big decision, and it's not easy to shift it from one location to another because you need to find and train the staff. That's why you won't find one in the EU - Britain was their EU factory but Brexiters ruined that for them.