BEIJING, October 19  (TMTPOST)— BMW Group is ramping up businesses in China, from the booming electric vehicle (EV) sector to the auto supply chain.

Source: Visual China

As new effort to increase spending in battery projects in China, BMW will invest RMB10 billion more to scale up its High-Voltage Battery Centre located in Shenyang, one of key auto-making hubs in the country, people at BMW China told Global Times, a national Chinese newspaper under the state paper the People's Daily. The center in Shenyang is BMW’s third production base of EV batteries as well as the first one outside Germany, the paper noted.  

The news came as BMW was reported to move some EV production to China. The German auto giant decided to stop producing electric Minis in U.K. and transfer some of production in China, The Times last Friday reported. With the partnership with Chinese automaker Great Wall Motor through a joint venture, BMW can make the hatchback and small SUV electric Minis in Baoding, a city approximately 150 kilometers southwest of Beijing, and Mini Aceman, the first all-electric Mini crossover set to debut in 2024, will also be made in eastern China, the British paper said.

As a manufacturing center for Minis during the past century, BMW’s facility in Cowley, Oxfordshire began to deliver electric Minis in July 2019, and now has an annual production of 40,000.

The reason for moving electric production away is that the plant “was running inefficiently by having to produce electric and petrol cars on the same line”, according to Stefanie Wurst, the head of Mini. She said Oxford needs renovation and investment, though not giving definite date about when the electric Minis will return to the plant. Asked whether Oxford could at some time in the future build both Minis and Great Wall brands such as Ora and Wey, she replied: “Maybe.”

In order to improve producing electric Minis, BMW and Great Wall Motors invested a total of RMB5.1 billion (around 650 million euros) in 2018 to launch Spotlight Automotive Ltd., a venture aims to have a standard capacity of up to 160,000 vehicles per year. According to the new strategy unveiled last year, Mini targets to make two full electric Mini models in 2023, and the pure electric Minis are expected to take 50% of the worldwide output in 2027, with even higher shares in China.   

In its response to the recent report earlier this week, BMW said its Cowley plant would make the next generation of Mini models, such as Mini convertibles, but not mentioning new version of electric Minis. While confirming its venture Spotlight would produce full eletric Minis, BMW China didn't answer the question about whether these EVs under Mini brand would only be only made in China.