MINI is performing better than ever before after selling more than 300,000 vehicles in 2021, which is 3.3 percent more than the previous year. The demand for plug-in hybrids and electric cars is rising since electrified models made up approximately 17% of the total sold last year.
Today, February 1, Stefanie Wurst has the challenging task of maintaining MINI’s sales growth in a fiercely competitive market. She replaces Bernd Korber, who has been the CEO of MINI since April 2019. He will remain in MINI’s BMW Group by leading the BMW Product Management and the Connected Company.
Stefanie Wurst is back in Munich after being the Director at BMW Group Nederland since September 2018. Under her leadership when she was CEO, sales of the local division soared by 37% in 2021, and nearly a fifth of all registrations was for the Cooper S E. The next-generation model has been revealed and will be followed by a bigger Countryman with no combustion engine.
MINI Is Growing Big
This electric vehicle will begin production in the year following Leipzig in the same year that BMW is shifting Countryman production into its facility. To refresh, the VDL Nedcar manufacturing company is the one that produces the current model. Born, The Netherlands. To spread costs and accelerate development, The BMW Group has twinned the EV with the BMW iX1.
Stefanie Wurst has a busy schedule because a new EV group will be produced in China in 2023. MINI and Great Wall Motors are working on two vehicles to be delivered at a manufacturing facility in Zhangjiagang. In November, this “Spotlight Automotive Limited” joint venture will manufacture up to 160,000 cars each year and collaborate on the development of EVs. Specific models will be sold as MINIs, while others will sport the GWM badge.
These are steps towards becoming an entirely electric brand in the 2030s. MINI will become the second automaker in the BMW Group to abandon cars powered by an internal combustion engine. Rolls-Royce will be the first to lead the way before the end of this decade.