Next-Generation Mini Could Come in 10 Flavors

BMW AG tells Automotive News Europe that it may offer as many as 10 variants of its next-generation Mini city car, which is expected to debut next spring.

The new Mini lineup will share BMW's ULK (unter klasse) chassis that also will carry BMW's upcoming line of front-wheel-drive entry-level cars.

Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW's board member in charge of Mini, tells the online newspaper that those variants will include hybrids and possibly a pure electric vehicle. BMW plans a total of 15 BMW/Mini models that use the UKL platform.

Schwarzenbauer says BMW may produce the new Mini hatchback at Mitsubishi Motor Corp.'s former NedCar plant in Born, Netherlands. BMW has been using the facility, now owned by Dutch contract manufacturer VDL Groep BV to provide overflow capacity for the main Mini plant in Oxford, England.

The German automaker plans to continue production of Minis at those two plants and at contract manufacturer Magna Steyr's factory in Graz, Austria.