Next-gen Mini Cooper SE caught undisguised

Unless something else has been announced, the US is not expected to receive the updated Cooper SE until around 2027 (2028 model year?).
The updated Countryman SE will be available in the US, however.

 

MotoringFile just posted some spy photos of the J01 JCW: https://www.motoringfile.com/2023/06/19/exclusive-first-photos-of-the-2025-electric-mini-jcw/

 

Ha, btw I forgot to mention one new driving option that the new MINI will get (inherited from BMW). It's the ability to record your driving for the last 50m and replay it backwards.

 

"And yes, that hood scoop is fake." I'm confused. Does the JCW get a real fake hood scoop or is that a fake, fake hood scoop?

 

I chose to interpret that as meaning it's a fake, fake hood scoop. Later on, they also say "And don’t let the trim around the lights or that hood scoop fool you – both are fake." To me, that means "they are both fake for camouflage purposes".

 

JCW always had a real hood scoop ... it doesn't do anything productive other than fill a hole in the bonnet sheet metal, but it does exist.

 

How much air can a hood scoop scoop if a hood scoop can't scoop air?

 

I think that hood scoop on the JCW Electric is the same fake hood scoop applied along with the camouflage on the first-sighted J01s. Why bother at this point?

 

Please inject the EV JCW directly into my veins.

 

Does that mean a few years of no cooper SEs to the US?

 

Yep, for however long it takes to get production out from under US tariffs on Chinese goods.
Nothing has been announced officially yet, so maybe BMW will be able to pull a rabbit out of their hat, but that's what it looks like for now.

 

It's almost as if BMW never had a plan.

 

Oh they had a plan, to sell Chinese-made SEs in the US with the cushion of the $7500 Federal credit to offset the tariffs. But then the law changed and the SE no longer qualifies, so MINI gets a double-hit of no EV credit plus Chinese tariffs.

 

I believe the US tariff of 27.5% was around in 2018, so the only surprise was losing the $7,500 tax credit when the Inflation Reduction Act was enacted last year.

 

The F56 and F66 MINIs are so far removed, and so different from the original Mini, that I don’t understand this hardheaded attachment to front wheel drive. I’d be really excited by the JCW if it offered 250 hp rear wheel drive or somewhere north of 300 hp with dual-motor all wheel drive. Volvo’s “tiny” EX30 will beat MINI at its own game.

 

It seems that a JCW MINI Electric with 2 motors and 300 HP would have to give up its trunk and a lot of range. However, such a MINI would give Porsche a serious pause as they develop their electric 718s.

 

BMW surveyed the MINI customers and they wanted more luxury (power seats, blind spot monitoring, surround view camera) instead of performance. AWD would have to be put into a BMW ///iM2 before it makes it way down to the electric JCW.

 

The big rear motor in both versions of the Volvo does certainly take up some rear seat room, but with the same battery pack as the rear wheel drive version, the all-wheel-drive dual motor version is expected to only suffer around 10 miles of range drop.

 

The Countryman has AWD, so I'm expecting the new Countryman EV will have some configuration with that, if not the only configuration. FWD seems like an anachronistic holdover from ICE design to reduce the space of the engine. I can understand why the SE maintains it, since it's built out of ICE components. But the J01 certainly didn't need to keep FWD. I suppose keeping FWD allowed the elimination of the center tunnel.

 

What purpose would a center tunnel serve in a RWD SE?