Started by Tesla yeas ago, the strategy to have a pre-ordering process for electric cars is starting to take shape at BMW as well. The company has recently unveiled the MINI Cooper SE, the first mass produced electric MINI which goes on sale in 2020. The idea of pre-sales is quite practical. On one hand, it gauges the interest in the product and on the second hand, it becomes a marketing tool for the company.
According to MINI E Project Leader Elena Eder, the number of pre-orders for the MINI Cooper SE has exceeded 45,000, with months to go before its market launch.
In contrast to the BMW i3, the MINI Cooper SE not only refrains from using optical identification as much as possible, it also uses a conventional vehicle architecture instead of the completely independent carbon fiber passenger cell of the i3. The new MINI E is recognizable above all by its wheels and some yellow accents that point to its electric drive.
New MINI Cooper SE Electric: First Look, First Ride and Pricing
With the 184-hp electric motor of the BMW i3s, the front-wheel drive built in Oxford manages to reach 100 km/h in 7.3 seconds. The 60 km/h mark, which is much more relevant for city traffic, can be reached after just 3.9 seconds. Depending on the measurement cycle, the electric range is between 235 and 270 kilometers. We were able to confirm that only one battery will be available for the MINI Cooper S – a 32.6 kWh battery pack.
As far as charging goes, The MINI will have a J1772 plug-in charge port which can deliver up to 11 kW Level 2, as well as a CCS DC port with charging at speeds of up to 50 kW. On the DC Charger, the MINI Cooper SE is capable of going from nearly empty to 80 percent in about 30 minutes. When plugged into a 7.2 kW charger 80 percent gain from about flat occurs in 2 and a half hrs.
The prices for the electric MINI start in Germany at 32,500 euros, production begins on November 1, 2019. Anyone who wants to pre-order the MINI Cooper SE can do so online at MINI.de or directly at their dealer.
[Source: Bimmertoday]
Why is the MINI Cooper SE available for pre-order only in Europe? Will those orders be filled before making any deliveries to North America?
Thank goodness the company didn’t include fake exhaust pipes! There needs to be a way for me to order one without the unnecessary, blocked-off, MINI S hood-scoop (bonnet scoop?).
Trying to find out if the US market gets a pre-order also
The Mini.com website lists Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, but not the US or Canada. My local MINI dealer has received no information about the MINI Cooper SE.
https://youtu.be/IrJZFT-0FOs
The common sense says, it’s better not to order or to buy any electronic stuff during Uranus retrograde from August 12, 2019 until Januar 10, 2022. Here is one of the best proof why.
Its a Tesla. This company is known for their pretty low HV safety standards compared to other OEMs, so dont worry about the MINI ;)
https://youtu.be/x45GWgGXGhs
I worry more about this.
Non-functional scoops & louvers have been design features on ICE cars since post-WWII (jet plane inspiration). If anyone wants an exhaust on their electric MINI, they can just do what they did on the original prototype & use 1/2 a Heineken can.
The MINI Cooper S includes a hood scoop to enhance performance. To my knowledge, no MINI before this electric MINI has been saddled with appearance-only, pseudo-performance bits that violate the form-follows-function mantra. In fact, I’d be surprised if the hood scoop doesn’t negatively affect aerodynamics, reducing the MINI Cooper SE’s EV range by a few feet.
The 3-cylinder MINI looks good without a hood scoop. All the current MINIs are built on the same assembly line, so specifying the base model’s hood would be just a check-box on a build-sheet (build-screen?). I’d be happy to pay more and the smooth hood would cost them less–a win-win on profit for them and a win on aesthetics for me.
The biggest obstacle to making the hood-scoop delete-option a reality would be writing it up in such a way so as to obfuscate the folly of the default blocked-off hood scoop. Well that, and hurting the feelings of some marketing honcho who decided to impose the non-functional, less-aerodynamic hood scoop on this electric MINI, overruling the company’s design staff (see the 2009 MINI E, the 2017 MINI Electric Concept, the pre-production SEs journalists tested, and the original design sketches for the MINI Cooper SE).
Your comments about a brand that so stresses personalization are @ the very least ironic – haven’t I seen Union Jacks on the hood, roofs & mirror caps of various & sundry MINIs? I guess Union Jack turn signals are form following function. Speaking of which, have you seen a MINI interior? Lighting? Most rim/tire packages are also unnecessary, even a bare bones MINI is proof positive of why the multi-billiom $ aftermarket exists. Haven’t MINIs been built in UK, Netherlands, Austria?
I guess if you lump a fake hood scoop in with paint colors and decals that don’t pretend to be something they’re not, you have a good point.
I’m old, I’ve seen fins, chrome bumpers, body coloured plastic bumpers, vinyl roofs, opera windows, faux wire wheels, faux wood side panelling, racing stripes, hood pins, countless unnecessary annual model changes. I’ve also wandered up & down a street with a friend fobbing her car because it was so generic she couldn’t spot it. I like MINI quirk, functional or not. Also the fact that we get to choose it.
I’m only 69, but I remember reading Car & Driver when the Mini first appeared. I used to drive a 1968 Morris Mini Moke and it didn’t have one tiny bit of unnecessary stuff on it. I don’t mind people adding things to personalize their MINIs–I just want the opportunity to personalize mine by removing something that insults the car’s break with the tyranny of the internal combustion engine (perhaps that’s a bit too strongly worded).
Original Mini may be 1 of the pinnacles of form following function, but I love the resulting quirk. Since they’ve had such a long, successful competition history I’m sure you’ve seen them modified as rally cars – fog lights & Minilites may not be necessary for street cars, but I love ’em nonetheless. ICE have been around for a century, that’s a whole lotta tyranny! Also landfills.
Minilites are the pinnacle of wheel design IMO. I believe the magnesium Minilites are still being manufactured, but only for the pre-BMW Minis. The head MINI designer says the strange asymmetrical wheels for the MINI Cooper SE are very aerodynamic, but I’d gladly sacrifice some EV range to replace them with magnesium Minilites, if they were available. I’d justify their greater wind resistance by citing the advantages of reduced unsprung weight.
Honda E BEV Concept reminds me of update of original Mini Clubman & it has faux grille & hood scoop, looks like last vestiges of ICE will be hard to get rid of. Still would take a scoop over the dental dams on some BEV.
Terrible car has that many pre-orders? Daamnn
80% of 32.6kWh is 26kWh. 26/7.2 = 3.62 hours.
2.5 hours of 7.2kW gives 18kWh.
Fast ordering before you only get joint venture crap with China Tech.
well that china tech is way better than that US crap, but what do you know anyway?! :D
BMW have been exporting from China (& elsewhere) for yrs., think they manufacture on 4 continents. They are global.