BMW X3 and Mini to go all-electric

BATTERY-powered versions of the BMW X3 and Mini will go on sale by 2020 after the German brand confirmed its commitment to more electrified models.

BMW’s announcement comes weeks after the Reuters news agency reported the company’s senior executives had skipped the 2016 Paris motor show to urgently discuss its future electric-vehicle strategy.

BMW now says an all-electric Mini will be released in 2019, more than a decade after the company demonstrated the Mini-E at 2008’s Los Angeles motor show. It will be joined a year later by an electric version of the X3 mid-sized luxury SUV, which is due in next-generation form from 2017.

The company has already confirmed a Roadster version of its i8 petrol-electric supercar, due in 2018, as well as an “iNext” project expected to be the long-rumoured i5 mid-size passenger car.

The iNext is set to become the brand’s autonomous vehicle flagship after its i division was switched this year from focusing purely on electrification to a broader technological brief.

BMW this year released a more advanced version of its i3 city car, which made its debut in 2013 in both electric-only and range-extended guises – the latter version featuring a two-cylinder petrol engine. The BMW i3 won Wheels Car of the Year in 2014.

A range of plug-in models for models including the 3 Series, 7 Series and X5 continue to be released.

More than 18,000 i and iPerformance models were sold in the third quarter of this year, according to BMW – totalling more than 40,000 to September 2016.