A while back, the British car company Mini (www.mini.co.uk) announced plans to join forces with a Chinese partner, Great Wall; and while some in the industry might have queried this move, since parent company BMW is already working with China’s Brilliance Automotive, the move made sense in light of new Chinese regulations regarding local car manufacturing.

According to the British magazine Auto Express, China wants to change the way it is perceived globally when it comes to pollution, e-mobility and cutting CO₂ emissions by as much as possible.

China is also reported to have said that electric vehicles (EVs) sold there need to be built locally and use parts made in China — even batteries.

BMW recently announced that its iX3 model will also be built in China, with batteries sourced from local manufacturers, as a result of this decision.

It has been reported that a second Mini EV will be built in China by Great Wall and will be sold exclusively locally. Auto Express said this development “is mostly due to the fact that BMW decided the first all-electric Mini will be built in Oxford and, therefore, won’t be eligible for import into China”.

China is currently Mini’s fourth-largest market in the world, accounting for some 35,000 cars annually.