mini john cooper works electric i
John Mahoney26 Mar 2021
NEWS

Faster MINI Electric JCW teased

More powerful pure-electric hot hatch could get dual-motors providing all-wheel drive

MINI has released its first teaser for what's believed to be a more powerful, quicker John Cooper Works version of its MINI Electric hatch.

The British car-maker has not released any further information, but posted a single image on its social media channels with the caption: "Feels like it's time for a boost. Watch this space".

Look closer though and the MINI pictured appears to feature a huge diffuser and a pair of ultra-wide rear fenders reminiscent of the latest John Cooper Works GP.

It's thought the green and yellow light bar, meanwhile, suggest MINI will unveil a concept for the John Cooper Works Electric that's based on a safety car.

Strip away the fancy lights and safety equipment and it appears the BMW-owned brand's concept is close to being production-ready.

Back in December, MINI reportedly said it would expand its white-hot John Cooper Works sub-brand to include a pure-electric variant but released no further details.

It's not known if the JCW EV will bag a bigger or more powerful motor, or even a second motor to drive the rear axle, but it's sure to produce significantly more power and torque than the standard single-motor MINI Electric, which musters 135kW and 270Nm.

Packaging another motor on the UKL platform never originally meant for an electric powertrain could be tricky, unless the JCW model is based on the next-gen MINI hatch platform, suggesting a launch date later in 2022.

If it does bring two motors, expect the MINI JCW EV to deliver around 300kW of power and 500Nm of torque, which should be enough for a sub-four-second 0-100km/h sprint and a 200km/h limited top speed.

Expect more teases to be released in the coming months.

Tags

MINI
Hatch
Car News
Hatchback
Electric Cars
Written byJohn Mahoney
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