Final combustion-powered MINI set for 2025 debut ahead of EV switch

MINI has announced that it will become a pure-electric brand "by the early 2030s" following the launch of its final combustion-powered model in 2025.

MINI's switch to zero-emissions vehicles only is part of accelerated plans by its parent, the BMW Group, to embrace electrification.

Confirming its last combustion-engined model, the next-generation MINI hatch, will launch in 2025, MINI says from that point on all its future vehicles will be battery-powered as part of plans to ensure by 2027 half of its global sales will consist of EVs.

BMW says it will use the MINI brand in a "pioneering role" within the group's electrification strategy, with the claim "the urban brand is absolutely ideal for electric mobility".

With outright bans of combustion-powered cars in European countries like Norway set to be introduced in 2025 and others from 2030, the expansion to a full range of pure-electric cars was inevitable for MINI.

However, by swapping to electric it could hamper the car-maker in markets further afield where there's no plan to phase out petrol or diesel.

Its German parent denies this will be the case, claiming MINI will remain a "global brand with a footprint in every region of the world".

Currently, MINI has just one electric car in its line-up – the Cooper hatch-based MINI Electric SE.

In 2023, the small MINI, which will borrow its powertrain from the BMW i3, will be joined by an EV version of the next-gen MINI Countryman.

MINI is also developing a new dedicated pure-electric vehicle architecture as part of a joint venture with China's Great Wall that is set to introduce a new family of battery-powered vehicles from 2023.