Mini halts planned US imports from China

Mini has put its plan to import two electric models from China to the United States on hold. The move comes in response to the new US tariffs on goods manufactured in China, including cars. As a result, the fully electric Mini Aceman will not be available in the US for the foreseeable future.

Michael Peyton, Vice President for the Americas region at Mini, confirmed the move in a statement to Automotive News. Among the models Mini wanted to offer stateside was the compact Aceman SUV, which is only available as a fully electric vehicle. Like the J01-generation Mini Cooper, the Aceman was co-developed by BMW’s Mini brand and its Chinese partner Great Wall Motor, and is built at Great Wall’s facilities in China.

Back in February, the BMW Group already postponed its plan to produce electric Mini models at the Oxford plant in the UK indefinitely, citing ‘the multiple uncertainties facing the automotive industry.’ The initial plan was to begin building both the electric Cooper and Aceman in Oxford as well as in China from 2026. That means exporting the EVs from Europe to the US is also off the table for now.

Even under President Joe Biden, the US government had already tightened restrictions on importing EVs from China. “We had a lot of things we were working on, on where to best source those products to make sure we could avoid the tariff situation we had with China,” Peyton said with regard to the Biden administration.

However, under Biden’s successor Donald Trump, the tariff dispute has escalated – specifically with China. The US now imposes an additional 125 per cent duty (a total of 145 per cent) on imports from China. “Now, it’s become a lot more clear for a variety of reasons that [it] doesn’t make sense,” Peyton added.

The consequence of Mini pulling the plug on Chinese-built electric models is a heavier-than-expected reliance on combustion engines in North America. “We’re still moving in that direction,” said Peyton, “but we’ve seen, particularly for North America, ICE is still very much a thing and will be for the foreseeable future.”

Peyton emphasised that he would still like to bring the Aceman to the US, if it could be sourced from outside China. “A product like the Aceman, I love it — it does fantastic for me in Latin America — but we just have to navigate some of those hurdles that make the business case work,” he said. That said, Peyton considers local production at BMW’s Spartanburg plant in the US unlikely due to the low expected volumes.

Automotive News also quoted a Mini dealer based in Portland, Oregon. Roger Botton described the decision not to bring the EVs to the US as “a hard hit to the brand”. According to Botton, his dealership could sell an additional 175 to 200 units per year if the electric models were available – representing an increase of around 35 per cent.

yahoo.com