Photo: MINI
MINI has been experimenting with the idea of an electric vehicle for quite some time now. The E comes to mind, an R56-gen model that looks like your average Hatch minus the chrome exhaust tips and an internal combustion engine. In 2019, however, the British carmaker plans to introduce its first-ever production EV.
As a brief refresher, the MINI E was never sold to the general public. The company put a few hundred examples on the road to generate valuable know-how for its mass-produced offering, but as it happens, the MINI E project saw the light of day back in 2008.
With the production-ready model slated to hit showrooms in 2019, that means MINI will have spent almost 11 years on generating knowledge on electric vehicles. But will the company’s first-ever production EV reflect the great deal of years of relentless R&D put into this project?
It’s too soon to say at this moment in time, but the global head of MINI has pretty high expectations from the yet-unnamed EV. Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Sebastian Mackensen made it clear that the electric MINI will be a “superhero” model, but didn’t slip a single word about size, body style, and sales projections.
“The electric car is not meant to just have an offering so you can say you have an electric car,” he highlighted. Reading between the lines, it seems that MINI has something special in store. But regardless of performance specs, range, and the oft-mentioned go-kart handling, styling is something else MINI has going for it.
On a slight tangent, the automaker might replicate BMW’s lead in this area of expertise as far as branding is concerned. To the point, if BMW has the i sub-brand, then how would MINI’s sub-brand be called? I'd go with “E” for very obvious reasons.
Then there’s the matter of sharing. What if the MINI EV borrow bits and bobs from the BMW i3? As things stand now, the truth of the matter is that we have more questions than answers on this subject. MINI is on the right track, though, having introduced its first plug-in hybrid model just last month.
With the production-ready model slated to hit showrooms in 2019, that means MINI will have spent almost 11 years on generating knowledge on electric vehicles. But will the company’s first-ever production EV reflect the great deal of years of relentless R&D put into this project?
It’s too soon to say at this moment in time, but the global head of MINI has pretty high expectations from the yet-unnamed EV. Speaking to Automotive News Europe, Sebastian Mackensen made it clear that the electric MINI will be a “superhero” model, but didn’t slip a single word about size, body style, and sales projections.
“The electric car is not meant to just have an offering so you can say you have an electric car,” he highlighted. Reading between the lines, it seems that MINI has something special in store. But regardless of performance specs, range, and the oft-mentioned go-kart handling, styling is something else MINI has going for it.
On a slight tangent, the automaker might replicate BMW’s lead in this area of expertise as far as branding is concerned. To the point, if BMW has the i sub-brand, then how would MINI’s sub-brand be called? I'd go with “E” for very obvious reasons.
Then there’s the matter of sharing. What if the MINI EV borrow bits and bobs from the BMW i3? As things stand now, the truth of the matter is that we have more questions than answers on this subject. MINI is on the right track, though, having introduced its first plug-in hybrid model just last month.
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