- First-ever German-built Mini

- Will also get ICE version with next-gen model

Mini has officially announced the next-gen Countryman which will go electric. It will also be the first ever Mini to be built in Germany at the BMW Group’s Leipzig plant. Alongside the EV version, the British marque has confirmed an ICE version will also join the line-up.

The new-gen Countryman will share its production line with the BMW 1 Series, 2 Series Gran Coupe and 2 Series Active Tourer. This makes Leipzig the first plant where both BMW and Mini vehicles will be manufactured alongside each other. No technical details of the electric Countryman are given out yet, but we can take an educated guess that it will share its underpinnings with the electric X1 (or as it’s called, iX1).

So the Countryman SE is likely to get a two-motor setup with around 300bhp and 500Nm of combined output. It will be fed by a 64.7kWh battery pack and offer a range of around 450 kilometres. The ICE version might continue with the 1.5-litre or the 2.0-litre turbo petrol powertrain. A PHEV is also on the cards.

We can expect the global premiere of the electric Mini Countryman to happen sometime later this year.