► New Mini John Cooper Works on the way
► Electric and ICE versions planned
► Latest spyshots, intel, specs and more
Another round of official spyshots of the new Mini John Cooper Works, which will go on sale with a choice of petrol or full electric power before the end of 2024. There are no further technical details at this stage, but Mini is celebrating a class victory at the Nurburgring 24 hours and the appearance of the JCW electric at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed, and has given us some spiel about these upcoming hot hatches.
Our spy photographers had already snapped prototypes of the electric version (yellow camo) testing even before the first round of official pictures (red camo) arrived. Now we’ve got a set of three cars together, including the racing version. Mini is referring to them collectively as the John Cooper Works PROtotypes.
They show still show us very little thanks to a generous amount of camo – par for the course in this sort of launch activity – but they do have a more aggressive stance than the standard Mini Cooper hatchback. What’s more, the prototype shown also wears a bespoke camo pattern, itself an homage to the iconic racing liveries by the brand in the 1960s.
What about the electric one?
We snapped it conducting validation testing on the public roads around Munich earlier this year.
It’s BMW’s answer to the growing band of electric hot hatchbacks gradually filtering through to market: a case of old-world thinking meeting the new-world order. Historically, performance derivatives have been seen as aspirational and a cut above mainstream models – and now manufacturers appear to be fusing the two genres together again.
Witness the dawn of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, the Abarth 500e and forthcoming Alpine 290β pocket rockets.
These spyshots reveal a butch bodykit comprising a lowered stance, pronounced front air dam and rear diffuser, side skirts and a rear spoiler comprising mini shark finlets on the rooftop to manage airflow across the car.
Look closely and lower-profile tyres and enlarged brake discs appear to be on the menu, too, signifying that this is a proper performance overhaul, not merely a styling exercise.
Specs, battery size and more
No official figures are available yet for the 2024 Mini Cooper Electric John Cooper Works (JCW), but our sources suggest a brawnier single-motor set-up will be fitted to flex the regular Cooper SE’s powertrain.
This /new-generation of standard Mini Cooper Electric comes in two battery sizes – the 54kWh offering a 250-mile range and a smaller 40kWh with a 200-mile range. Expect the larger battery in the JCW, which is tipped to drive more than 200bhp through the front axle.
We’ll update this story once we know more.