IN recent weeks and months there has been much talk about how BMW and a number of other car manufacturers have ceased working on the development and production of electric cars . Turns out it was an incredibly effective fake news hoax.
And yet, in real news directly from BMW in Leipzig, just four months after launching the combustion-engined Mini Countryman, the all-electric Mini Countryman is now rolling off the production lines. After phasing out production of the BMW i3, the birthplace of electric mobility at the BMW Group, the company has welcomed yet another fully electric car to its range.
Leipzig now manufactures four models with three drive types all on a single production line: the BMW 1 Series, the 2 Series Active Tourer (including the plug-in hybrid version), the 2 Series Gran Coupe and the Mini Countryman, in both fully electric and combustion-powered versions. This real news goes to prove that we must check and re-check stories that circulate on social media before sharing, or indeed believing.
The Mini Countryman Electric represents a major step in the Mini brand’s declared intent – that despite fake news they are committed to full electrification by 2030. Since 2018 the BMW Group has invested around 1.6 billion euros in the Leipzig site to produce electric vehicles, electric components, and flexible assembly structures to integrate the Mini Countryman Electric seamlessly into production. With the production launch of the Countryman Electric, all three stages of the Generation 5 high-voltage battery production process are now represented at BMW Group Plant Leipzig and three module-production and two high-voltage battery-production lines are now in place.
“We are in the middle of the transformation to e-mobility,” said Markus Fallböhmer, Head of Battery Production at the BMW Group, “we will now manufacture not just the high-voltage batteries for the Mini Countryman Electric but also e-components for the BMW iX1, BMW iX2, BMW i4, BMW i5 and BMW iX made at other sites.”
The fully electric Mini Countryman adds three new body colours to the range: British Racing Green, Chili Red and Blazing Blue. Prices start at around £31,000 on the road.
In Formula 1, the 2024 season kicked off in Bahrain where Max Verstappen started his campaign in the same style as he signed off last year by taking an emphatic victory. The three-time champion marched to a comfortable Bahrain Grand Prix win, more than 20 seconds ahead of teammate Sergio Pérez who made it a second consecutive Sakhir 1-2 for Red Bull Racing.
Carlos Sainz took the final podium place in third, just three seconds behind Pérez, and with teammate Charles Leclerc fourth, that gives Ferrari hope of taking the fight to Red Bull over the coming weekends. George Russell took fifth for Mercedes with Lando Norris sixth for McLaren. Lewis Hamilton was seventh, Oscar Piastri finished eighth with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ninth and tenth for Aston Martin.
The next Grand Prix is at the Jedda Corniche, Saudi Arabia, on March 9.
