Electric MINI Cooper JCW will be ‘a lot of fun’

Iconic German-owned British brand MINI may have slashed its model range down to just three models including the Cooper three-door hatch, the Countryman SUV and smaller new Aceman SUV, but its high-performance hero cars – JCW and GP – aren’t going anywhere.

In fact, the engineer who oversees the MINI Cooper hatch’s driving dynamics told carsales that development of the brand’s first ever all-electric John Cooper Works (JCW) hot hatch was in its final stages of development.

“I think everybody is quite happy with how the [regular MINI Cooper Electric] cars turned out and the Johnny [JCW], we have already nearly finished it, so there’s not too much refinement left to do,” said Patrick Haussler, the MINI hatchback’s head of chassis dynamics.

“There’s still some work [beyond the handling dynamics] but I already like it very much. The things that you like with the Cooper SE, you will like it even more with Johnny,” he grinned.

It’s understood the electric MINI Cooper ‘Johnny’ will launch in early 2025, not long after turbo-petrol versions of the new hatch are unveiled later in 2024.

The battery-electric MINI Cooper E and SE hatchbacks will arrive in Australia from around August 2024, priced from just under $54,000 and brandishing two different e-motor tunes.

The Cooper E has a 135kW/290Nm e-motor, a 41kWh battery and a 305km range, while the angrier Cooper SE bangs out a feistier 160kW/330Nm and has a bigger 54kWh battery offering a longer 402km range (both WLTP).

Haussler said the JCW will get more mumbo but wouldn’t be drawn on how fast or powerful the first all- electric MINI Cooper JCW hatchback will be.

“You know, I must not talk about this yet. Let’s talk about it when we can show it,” he said.

The three-door hot hatch can be expected to push close to 200kW/400Nm, which should result in a circa-6.0sec 0-100km/h sprint time, making it significantly quicker than the SE (6.7sec).

The former BMW engineer confirmed the next MINI JCW’s suspension, steering and brakes would all be improved, but declined to go into detail.

Regular MINI EV hatches don’t have adaptive damping but this may be addressed for the JCW version.

Exterior upgrades have already been previewed by the JCW pack that’s available for the 2024 MINI Cooper SE electric hatch, which adds a more assertive, road-hugging front-end design, while upgraded JCW sports seats grace the interior.

A petrol-powered MINI Cooper JCW model is also being developed alongside the EV and it will deliver similar performance despite less torque because it won’t be as heavy.

However, the lower centre of gravity of the MINI JCW EV – which rides on an all-new dedicated EV platform – gives it a lower centre of gravity that should improve driving dynamics.

“So it’s really appealing, it’s a lot of fun,” said Haussler of the hotted-up MINI.

The engineer also confirmed the all-new platform underneath the MINI Cooper Electric (dubbed the Spotlight EV platform and co-developed with BMW and GWM) can handle a lot more power.

But Haussler was coy when quizzed about whether the new platform could cope with a twin-motor layout, which by extension could result in a rip-snorting new MINI JCW GP with all-wheel drive.

“There is consideration but there’s nothing we can talk about right now. There is not even a decision made so far – it’s early days.”

One thing that is locked and loaded are JCW versions of all three current MINI models, with the Cooper hatch, the Aceman small SUV and the bigger new Countryman SUV all set to get the go-fast treatment.

The MINI JCW Countryman has already been revealed, the MINI JCW hatch has been confirmed and a faster JCW version of the Aceman will also eventuate.

“John Cooper Works as a sub-brand will continue. For me, personally, it’s always an aspect of the MINI program and JCW is an important part for every of one our products,” he said.

Check back here next Wednesday (May 22) for our first review of the new MINI Cooper SE electric hatch.

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