According to a report in The Age BMW Australia is making preparations to bring the MINI E down under. The all electric-powered MINI has been operating on trial lease agreements in the United States since late 2008. The MINI E is also currently being evaluated in both Germany and England. Now, it looks like we could be the next country to flick the switch.
BMW Australia’s PR and Corporate Communications Manager, Toni Andreevski, confirmed plans are underway, “The first step is to try to get a sample car in the country, a MINI E, in Australia as soon as possible.
“It hasn’t been finalised yet, we are still negotiating with Munich but it looks very promising and we are quite confident of having a car in Australia around the middle of next year.â€
With a range of around 240km and a heavy duty 150kW of power on offer BMW Australia are keen to test the car in demanding Australian conditions.
“We’d like to get the engineers some experience in Australia with the car so that if there is anything that they need to learn from an Australian perspective then they take that into account when they are developing future concepts,†Andreevski told The Age.
Andreevski hopes the MINI will attract some political clout, “The idea to bring the car to Australia is also to get some politicians behind the wheels so they can experience really one of the cars that is in larger scale use at the moment.â€
More on this story as it develops.
[Source: The Age via theSwitchback]