Questions have been raised over how Rishi Sunak's announcement on electric vehicles will impact production at Swindon's Mini plant.

Car manufacturers in the UK, including BMW, are said to have asked for clarity after the Prime Minister he was delaying a switch to electric vehicles. 

According to CCN, a spokesperson from BMW is said to have said that "we and the whole automotive industry [need] clarity on the [EV] topic."

The announcement came just days after BMW had announced that its Mini plants in both Oxford and Swindon were set to benefit from a £600 million investment that would make it an all-electric production site from 2030. 

That was the date that the Government had previously set out as the time that it would start imposing a ban on the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles, but in his announcement on Wednesday, September 20, the Prime Minister said he was rolling this back to 2035. 

This change of plans from the Government has led to some uncertainty over BMW's plans to only sell electric Minis by 2030 and where that leaves the just-announced planned investment into the Oxford and Swindon plants.

But in another statement from BMW, which owns the Mini brand, this time to the Evening Standard, a spokesperson said: “Mini has already announced that it will become a purely electric brand from 2030 globally and this will not change.”

When asked by the Adver if this announcement has had, or will have an impact on plans, BMW replied: "The BMW Group is a leading proponent of battery electric vehicle (BEV) technology, with many billions of Euros being invested and rapidly expanding the choice of BEV models across its brands.

"Our commitment was most recently demonstrated by the announcement of a £600m investment in the Oxford Mini plant to build new BEV models. BMW Group is already the UK’s largest producer of BEVs.

"BMW Group has always advocated taking a technology-open approach to carbon-reducing innovations rather than mandating a single drivetrain technology.

"In the case of BEVs it is essential that a widely accessible recharging infrastructure is installed to allow their uptake and reassure their owners."

In his announcement, Mr Sunak stated that more needed to be done to prepare the country for electric vehicles. 

"We’ve got further to go to get that charging infrastructure truly nationwide," he said. 

"So, to give us more time to prepare, I’m announcing today that we’re going to ease the transition to electric vehicles."