Mini to add electric SUV, report says

Mini will introduce two new SUV models, one with a full-electric powertrain, to meet the changing tastes of global car buyers, according to a report.

The electric model will be a compact SUV designed in cooperation with parent BMW Group’s Chinese joint-venture partner, Great Wall, and manufactured in China, UK enthusiast magazine Autocar said citing unnamed sources.

The battery-powered SUV will be exported to international markets, including Europe, the magazine said. No date was given for its launch. The car will be built in Zhangjiagang, near Shanghai, at a new factory that is scheduled to start production in 2022.

The second SUV will be a global model featuring both electrified drivetrains and fuel-powered engines, the report said, adding that the vehicle will be positioned above the Countryman compact SUV.

The full-electric SUV could be badged the Paceman, while the bigger model could be called the Traveller, according to the report.

BMW Group sales head Pieter Nota has previously hinted that Mini would launch another SUV. "That's a growing segment," Nota told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automotive News last year. "Without revealing anything, we will see growth in that segment."

Autocar said the new, larger Mini SUV would be built on BMW Group’s CLAR platform, which means the model could be made at the automaker’s U.S. plant in South Carolina.

The addition of a larger SUV would address Mini’s sluggish sales in the U.S., which peaked at 66,502 in 2013. The brand declared that year that it would sell more than 100,000 vehicles annually by 2020, but last year Mini’s U.S. sales dipped 17 percent to 36,092, data from Automotive News shows.

Mini would also benefit from a wider range of SUVs in Europe, where demand for the body style grew 13 percent to 5.7 million units, accounting for 37 percent of overall market.

BMW delivered 347,474 Minis in 2019, down 4.6 percent from the year before, according to company data. The Countryman accounted for 98,845 of those deliveries, making it the brand’s No. 2-seller after the Mini hatchback.

Mini said in its latest annual report published in March that “Brexit-driven uncertainty and intense competition in the small and compact car segment played a significant role” in Mini’s sales decline.

BMW Group said earlier this year it has delayed the development of its next-generation Mini hatchback, which is built in Oxford, England.

"The lifespan of this platform has been extended," BMW spokesman Maximilian Schoeberl told Reuters. "For cost reasons and because of Brexit."

The current Mini hatchback was launched in 2014 and is due for a replacement but automakers operating in the UK have held off from making long-term decisions until uncertainty over Britain's trade relations with the European Union become clearer.