MINI is keeping busy today by previewing the new Cooper 3-Door, Aceman, and Countryman electric models. The BMW Group company also has other news to share, chief of which is the decision to abandon plug-in hybrids. The Countryman PHEV on sale today will not live to see another generation as the Oxford-based company has decided to stick with ICE- and EV-only solutions going forward.
This decision might come as somewhat of a surprise considering the hardware is already available for a next-generation Countryman with a combustion engine and an electric motor. We’re referring to the mechanically related X1, sold by BMW in xDrive25e and xDrive30e flavors. MINI intends to sell the third-generation crossover strictly with combustion engines, accompanied by the first-ever purely electric derivative.
In related news, MINI has moved forward the cutoff date for internal combustion engines. Up until now, it used to say the ICE’s demise would take place early in the next decade, but it’ll happen in 2030. Consequently, the company will retire conventionally powered vehicles at the same time as Rolls-Royce, the other British marque part of the BMW Group. As for the core brand, it has yet to announce when it will stop selling cars powered by gasoline and diesel engines.
Without going into details, MINI says it’s already planning purely electric performance models with the John Cooper Works branding. It’s too soon to say which car will get the JCW treatment first, but our money is on either the 3-Door hatch or the Countryman, possibly later this decade. Future EVs from the company will be faster as MINI intends to eliminate the top-speed limiter currently restricting the outgoing Cooper SE to 93 mph (150 km/h).
Before the ICE’s demise, MINI plans to sell the next Cooper hatchback and Countryman with combustion engines. That won’t be the case with the Aceman as the smaller crossover will be available strictly as an EV.
Source: MINI
