Report: New Mini Models in the Works

BMW AG’s Mini brand is developing two new vehicles and next-generation versions of its current Clubman and Countryman models that will be launched over the next four years, Autocar reports.

The British enthusiast magazine says all future Mini vehicles will ride on either BMW’s FAAR platform or a new-entry level architecture being developed by the carmaker’s Spotlight Automotive joint venture with China’s Great Wall Motor Co.

Production of the FAAR-based model, which may revive Mini’s 1960s-era Traveller nameplate, will start by the end of 2022 at the VDL Nedcar plant in Born, Netherlands, sources tell Autocar. The vehicle is described as a flexible MPV that will provide families more space and versatility than the Clubman and Countryman.

Mini plans hybrid, full-electric and conventionally powered variants, according to the report. The EV is expected to share technology with the next-generation BMW i3 small car and compete against Volkswagen’s upcoming ID.3 EV.

Spotlight Automotive, which was announced last year, is building a factory in Jiangsu that will have a capacity to produce 160,000 electric vehicles per year. The first model is expected to be a production version of the two-seat Rocketman supermini concept Mini showed in 2011.