The company that has been teasing us for a while now with details and official spyshots has finally taken the camouflage off and is presenting the 2012 MINI Cooper Coupe. By losing a pair of seats and gaining a roof that is rumored to have been designed after a teenager’s back-to-front baseball hat, the Coupe is undeniably a true MINI at heart. The first set of images released show the more powerful JCW kit, which brings with it a more aggressive chin spoiler and enlarged wheel arches. Where the 2012 Coupe really differs from the regular hatchback is in that boot, which features a retractable wing. The tech is a new feature for the whole BMW Group, indicating that it might arrive on future propeller-badged cars as well.
In Europe, there will be four versions to pick from: the base Cooper Coupe, Cooper S Coupe, Cooper SD Coupe (diesel-powered) and the John Cooper Works Coupe, while in America, the oil-burner will not yet be made available.
The base Cooper Coupe offers a 1.6-liter normally aspirated petrol engine with 122 horsepower, while the Cooper S adds a turbocharger that bumps output to a more impressive 184 hp. The SD Cooper gets a 2.0-liter turbodiesel with common-rail injection that’s good for 143 hp. The flagship of the Coupe range is the mighty 211 hp, which can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 6.4 seconds and has a top speed of 240 km/h (149 mph). Despite the hothatch performance, the JCW Coupe averages 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres (39.8 mpg) and only emits 165 g/km of CO2.
We eagerly await the stylish Coupe to make its auto show debut in Frankfurt this September.
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