► New Mini Cooper Electric revealed
► Early leaked pictures show EV hatch
► Due to launch at IAA in September
The Mini Cooper Electric is due to be shown in September this year, but now we’ve got a good look at it inside and out. In addition to pictures that show the redesigned exterior of the new EV, CAR magazine can now reveal what it’ll look like inside, too.
What’s the interior like?
Just like the current car, the new Mini Cooper electric is dominated by a circular touchscreen – very similar to the one shown in the original concept. Our pictures show it placed just above more conventional climate controls (hurrah for buttons) and also indicate it’ll display cockpit into too: take a look at the speed just above the list of radio stations.
What about the exterior?
The distinctive Mini silhouette is remarkably unchanged, with the floating contrast-colour roof, blacked-out window pillars and flush glazing all continuing in to the fourth generation of Mini. It’s an enduring aesthetic that’s lasted remarkably well since the first R50 arrived in 2000.
Perhaps the most distinctive new details are at the front and rear: the new 2024 Mini Cooper is bookended by a mono-panel grille with trad oval headlights and distinctive new, triangular rear lamps with toned-down echoes of the Union flag motif from today’s Mini hatchback.
Although this is the Mini Cooper Electric, as confirmed by the absence of cooling vanes in the front grille and any visible exhaust pipe, the Mini hatchback will again be available as a petrol version. This time, in an attempt to streamline the badging hierarchy, all models will be badged Mini Cooper (instead of Hatchback).
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New 2024 Mini Cooper Electric: petrol and EV versions
The blue car in these early official photographs is badged Mini Cooper S, suggesting that the company is sticking with its tried-and-tested range hierarchy. The small-car brand is falling in line with the BMW mothership, in letting buyers choose any bodystyle in any which powertrain option (in the same way you can choose a BMW 7-series or i7).
The Mini Cooper Electric is our first look at the new Chinese-built EV architecture resulting from BMW’s collaboration with Great Wall in the Spotlight Automotive venture. This is a new electric platform that will underpin every new generation of Mini we’ll see in the next three years, as Munich upgrades its entire small-car range. It will offer the following battery capacities and specs:
- Entry-level Cooper E 40kWh battery, 200-mile range
- Top-spec Cooper SE 54kWh battery, 250-mile range
Petrol versions will be upgraded to follow closely the new look pictured here – but will, effectively, continue on today’s hardware with 1.5- and 2.0-litre engines and final assembly at Plant Oxford. It’s a neat way of BMW bridging the gap during the electric switchover and hedge its bets.
When can I buy the Mini Cooper Electric?
Expect to see the new Mini unveiled in September 2023, with media drives later this year and the first customer cars due in February or March 2024, just in time for Britain’s new 24-reg number plates.
After a quiet few years, this is the start of a major product blitz from Mini: the Cooper Electric will be shown at the same time as the new Mini Countryman (also available as petrol or electric, but no longer as a plug-in hybrid) and will go on sale in April/May 2024.
Five-door versions of the Mini hatch will follow, as will Convertibles – again, offered in a variety of powertrain choices.
Central dials: Mini’s new operating system
Mini is showcasing part of its new infotainment system at the Shanghai motor show this spring: the British bulldog motif is being used in China to emphasise the brand’s Britishness – but ignore the canine fluff and this is our first sight of how the centrally mounted dial will spawn a new digital touchpoint for owners, who can run nav, apps and heating systems from the prominent round screen on the dashboard.