Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's largest maker of luxury vehicles, plans to start mass producing an electric vehicle as early as 2010, with hundreds test-driving the Mini E starting next spring.

"Individual mobility continues to play a key role, particularly in America, while demand for greener technology becomes greater," Friedrich Eichiner, BMW's board member for corporate development, told journalists at a luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

BMW plans to sell first electric car between 2010 and 2015, Eichiner said. As a first step, the company will lease its new electric Mini Cooper, externally identical to its fuel-dependent cousin, to 500 customers in New York, New Jersey and California for one year starting in March to gather feedback on its performance.