BMW’s first locally-made electric Mini vehicle rolled off the assembly line over the weekend at its joint plant with manufacturing partner Great Wall Motor in Zhangjiagang, a city in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu, local media outlet 42How reported on Oct. 14. The news comes after the German automaker on Sept. 8 confirmed plans to start exporting electric Mini Cooper hatchbacks and Aceman crossovers from China in 2024 and following the establishment of Spotlight Automotive, a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies, in late 2019. BMW told The Times last October that it would discontinue mass production of electric Minis at its Cowley facility near Oxford, England, and instead move all production to China by the end of 2023, however a last-minute package of subsidies from the UK government eventually led to BMW partially reversing this decision last month. In a similar move, Daimler has been partnering with Geely to build electrified, Smart-branded city cars locally in Xi’an, capital of the northwestern Shaanxi Province. [42How, in Chinese]
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