Quickest Mini ever outed – could the 2025 Mini Cooper JCW E be the most fun EVer?
Pictures and first details of the all-new 2025 MINI Cooper JCW E have been leaked weeks before you were supposed to see them following China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology dropping information on the hottest electric MINI ever online.
Already previewed officially by MINI in July this year after a camouflaged version of the John Cooper Works E PROtotype was driven flat-out at the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb, the new pics show how the British brand has evolved the concept into a production model.
Our first glimpse of the JCW E reveals how its frontal styling will be dominated by a huge black blanked-out grille that gives the appearance of one giant air intake. Look closer though and only the lower half of the bumper has an opening, feeding air to cool the cabin or electrics via a two-bar horizontal air intake.
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A pair of secondary vertical intakes, meanwhile, vent the front arches, with the small hatch concealing a complex array of air bending that will all aim to maximise downforce while reducing drag.
Other takeaways include aggressively-styled side skirts and aerodynamically optimised 18-inch wheels.
At the rear there’s a rear bumper that includes both a neat diffuser, plus extractors for the arches, with the hottest all-electric MINI getting new chequered-flag JCW badges on its tailgate, front grille and interesting-looking vertical tailgate blades, plus the obligatory spoiler.
According to the leak, the JCW variant pumps out an impressive 190kW – a sizeable power boost over the 160kW Cooper SE, although some way off the 250kW the most-powerful single-motor in the BMW i4 can muster.
Even with 190kW e-motor driving the front wheels, the new JCW E is hotly tipped to easily be the fastest accelerating MINI hatch ever, with a 0-100km/h dash of around 5.0 seconds and a 200+km/h top speed expected.
There’s also no word on what battery the JCW E gets but it does weigh-in at a hefty 1670kg and isn’t expected to match the Cooper SE’s 401km WLTP-verified range.
When it arrives it’s likely the single-motor JCW E will sport a traction-boosting limited-slip diff that is likely to be combined by the car-maker’s next-generation torque vectoring.
The JCW E is also primed for a substantial chassis overhaul that will include a wider front and rear track plus broader tyres, with a set of larger brakes hidden behind the new wheels.
It’s worth mentioning that the electric MINI is based on a GWM platform, rather than the BMW-sourced architecture, with the former capable of supporting dual-motors. This suggests an even-quicker all-wheel drive JCW E GP could arrive later with near-supercar levels of performance off the line.
Colin Chapman and Sir Alec would be turning in their graves at the thought of a near 1700kg MINI. The new J01 SE is no faster than the outgoing model (ignoring the “official” highly inaccurate figures), and has worse handling (ie. less fun) and traction. It goes further – big deal. This JCW may claw back some cred as it will definitely accelerate quicker, and go faster. The weight is still an issue, but if Porsche can get a 2.3t car to handle well, MINI should be able to do something with the JCW. The diff will help, as will torque vectoring. It will need active dampers to have any chance of being driveable in the city, freeway and track. The suspension would have to be rock hard to control that weight in such a small wheelbase car. Active dampers could relax that in town so you wouldn’t need to visit a chiropractor after each trip 🙂
If all those things are added, this could be quite a good MINI. I may even have to look at it when my SE gets to pension age. The current J01 SE is a non-starter (sorry MINI). I have deliberately left the aesthetics out, as this is subjective and nobody wants to hear me moan about the new styling……