Honey, I shrunk the Mini.
Mini will revive the Minor brand on a Smart ForTwo-rivalling electric city car, reports from Autocar suggest.
The new Mini Minor is expected to be born from a joint venture between Great Wall Motors and BMW Group, and could be produced in Jiangsu, China.
Measuring up at less than 3.5 metres long, the city car is expected to take design cues from the Rocketman concept first displayed in 2011.
Mini Rocketman
Set for release late in 2022, this model will rival the existing Smart EQ ForTwo.
At the other end of the range, Mini is expected to kill the oddball Clubman and instead launch a seven-seat electric people mover.
It could revive the Traveller name, and is expected to take cues from the Vision Urbanaut concept.
If it makes production, the MPV isn’t expected to launch until 2027.
Vision Urbanaut
Also on the cards as part of Mini’s electric overhaul is an electric John Cooper Works hot hatch, previewed by the current Formula E pace car.
The electric JCW is expected to launch as a consumer model later this year or in early 2022.
It’s expected to pack a more toned-down exterior than the Formula E pace car, which shares its 32.6kWh battery pack and 138kW electric motor with the Mini Electric car have been carried over. Peak torque is up to 280Nm from 270Nm.
With its stripped-back interior the Pacesetter is 130kg lighter than the standard car. That shaves 0.5 seconds from the 100km/h sprint time, dropping it to 7.3 seconds.
The hottest petrol-powered JCW, the JCW GP, can do the same sprint in just 5.1 seconds.
Finally, an electric successor to the current Countryman could become the largest-ever Mini.
It’s likely look more SUV-like than ever and may be based on BMW’s latest FAAR platform, which supports both pure-electric and internal-combustion-powered vehicles.
