It’s every car company’s worst nightmare. You spend years on an all-new vehicle design, revising it over and over again, making it look just right, then planning a big, splashy launch complete with carefully edited photos designed to show it off in its best and most appealing light. Then all of a sudden, boom. Some deeply unflattering pics leak onto the internet. And everyone hates the way the car looks because it’s rolling half-finished off an assembly line or parked next to a dumpster.
That’s what happened last week to poor Mini, a brand that could use a break because it hasn’t had any truly all-new cars in many years now. I won’t link to the leaked photos here but trust me when I say nobody was impressed. So yesterday, the BMW-owned brand got ahead of this problem by releasing some better-looking (yet probably still hastily composed) photos of the all-new 2025 Mini Cooper. And guess what? It actually looks pretty decent.
This is the first all-new Cooper since the F56 launched way back in 2014. It’s had several updates since then, but thanks to the chip shortage, Brexit and BMW’s own focus on other products, the well has been dry for a while. That’s about to be fixed soon. Expect more official details soon.
As a two-time former Mini owner, I can safely say I could get behind this new design. It’s the best use of that “goatee” grille I’ve seen so far (and way better than whatever the hell this is supposed to be, good Lord) and those triangular taillights aren’t as off-putting as I thought they’d be. I can’t say it’s some renaissance for the iconic brand—it’s still no Mini Rocketman for sure—but it’s a nice, modern evolution of things.
It also dumped those plastic wheel arches it’s had since its BMW reboot in the early 2000s. Honestly, great.
Notice the lack of a tailpipe? The new Cooper will again come in both internal combustion and electric form, but Mini interestingly chose to reveal the latter here. No official details have been released yet, but the UK’s Autocar reports the electric Cooper will come in three levels of spiciness: regular with 181 horsepower, SE with 215 hp and John Cooper Works at 250 hp. An electric Mini JCW? I’m into it.
The range is predicted to be about 240 miles on the regular electric Cooper and all the way up to 300 miles on the Cooper SE, Autocar says. Keep in mind that’s on Europe’s vastly more optimistic WLTP testing cycle for EV range, but already it should be an improvement over the current Cooper’s 150 electric miles.
In the U.S., the Cooper SE is rated at just 114 miles; it’s a fun city car but that fun is over too soon. The gasoline Coopers are expected to use upgraded forms of the current car’s three- and four-cylinder BMW engines.
The big question is, will the new electric Mini come to America? That’s a trickier proposition. As Car and Driver notes, the new EV Cooper will be built in China as a joint venture with that country’s Great Wall Motors. But thanks to the tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act and our own government’s overall hostility to Chinese cars, I’d guess not, unless BMW decides to build a version of it locally.
I hope so, but again, the deck feels stacked against poor Mini. The automakers want to sell big, heavy, profitable EV SUVs, trucks and crossovers, not affordable small cars. And the regular Mini has had a rough go in America sales-wise as the market went bigger—although its dearth of new products didn’t help.
At the very least, we’re getting this new Cooper and an all-new Countryman built in Germany later this year. Here’s hoping BMW can squeeze in an electric Mini somewhere on its North American assembly lines. Why should all the big cars have the fun?
As a MINI owner that previously owned MINIs from Gen 1,2, & 3, I cannot say that I understand this radical design shift for their new future EV line. The new styling is very minimalistic, both inside and out, trying to connect with a new audience that appreciate this ultra sleek, and highly technologically centred EV, but in the process, has left behind the original adopters who likes the more analog dials, airplane-like switches and physical buttons. Add to that, the new EV Minis will leave behind the manuals, that are driven mostly by die hard enthusiasts and motorers of this brand who enjoy rowing our own gears. I will need to find a way to keep and maintain my manual F56 ????for as long as humanly possible!
My wife and I are really looking forward to the new electric Mini to replace her aging Fiesta and serve as our daily city car. I sent her these photos, and she said it’s not as compelling as the original Mini SE and last-gen S / JCW (ones before goatee).
While I think I could live with the look myself, the front end does seem too bland and lacking some more curves and features. Not to mention the lost of clamshell hood that covers around the headlamps. Oh well, I guess let’s see if it improves any after a mid-cycle facelift or two.
Are you sure that’s not a two door Ora Good Cat/Funky Cat?
https://gwmora.co.uk/
‘Not bad’ just shows how low your expectations were, which is not unreasonable given the state of BMW styling at the moment.
However I’d say this very definitely is bad, by far the least successful design of all ‘new’ MINIs.
Nah man, that’s an ugly car.
Yikes, it seems to be pretty unpopular… I love it! Except for the door handles. I love the clean simple looks. I hated the triangle rear lights but in these photos they look very good. Also the rear bulges look more pronounced? I think it’s a great refined look and I’ll def be eyeing the upcoming electric to compliment my manual Clubman.
I am once again begging automakers to stop designing pre-dented doors into new cars.
Are you serious? This bloated puffer fish has all the visual appeal of a Roomba. If this is the best Mini can come up with they should just throw in the towel and retire the brand. Ugly defined.
As a MINI owner it’s pretty disappointing. Very sorely missing the clamshell hood up front and I actually liked the wheel arches, which some people successfully paint and looks good! Personally I’m kind of tired of them leaning into the whole Union Jack on the tail light thing, which while kinda cool… seems like they are working way too hard to make it work.
But can it run Spike?
“OH GOD. THE BLINKERS ARE GOING TO POINT IN THE WRONG DIRECTION AGAIN, AREN’T THEY?!”—Probably Torch
A performance oriented electric Mini would make for a mighty compelling city car option.
Agreed… it’s all I want! The JCW version sounds like a blast! A MINI or an e-Golf/ID.3 with ~200 mile real world range would be perfect. Don’t need/want anything more.
It’s sad really, MINI did such a great job introducing the new car to the US in 2002, achieving an almost cult status and engendering terrific press, then let it down with quality issues, followed by making the car bigger, heavier and far less attractive. And they really missed the boat not calling the larger cars Maxi (as they did back in the day) more heritage they could have traded on and kept the R53 sized cars in play.
I’ve owned a 2003 R53 JCW and my current 09 Clubman S bought from new, but they haven’t made anything since that would get me back into the dealership…..and I wish they would!
For now, I’ll just stay with my classic Minis – I have three of those – a 73 Innocenti 1300 Export, an 89 carbed Racing Green and a 94 SPi!
I recently purchased a JDM ’96 SPI and am so excited for it to get here.
“Pretty decent”
“Not as off-putting as I thought it would be”
Talk about damning it with faint praise…
People have said the same things about me.
I love MINI Cooper S models, but that thing is a hard nope. From the front it looks like a goldfish gasping for air. The wheels are beyond ugly and the back end is extremely heavy and I have no idea why the body as a whole got angular and full of creases. It is a MINI, not a Honda. Also, why is the cabin pulled in so tight at the rear? It is a small cabin and needs any extra space you can get inside.
“ the body as a whole got angular and full of creases”
It’s a BMW.
True. The front is the buck tooth BMW face without the teeth.
I’ve said it elsewhere, but it looks like an AI generated “Mini” for GTA, and that’s not a compliment.
Those headlights make the car look like some kind of squinting cartoon turtle. The wheels also look pretty humongous for a “mini”
The headlights and grill surround give it almost a suspicious face look. Overall, I don’t hate it, but I also don’t find it very attractive either. I do hate the wheels, though. Far too busy, and as you say, a bit too large.
I feel like somebody on the Autopian staff might have an opinion about those tail lights.
Funny you should say that. Design breakdown and THOUGHTS incoming in a day or so, I just need to get myself worked into a frothing rage.
One good thing about those taillights is that they do appear to do all the work a taillight is supposed to – still mad about Chevy Bolts – and appear to completely light up while braking – though this isn’t confirmed, it would be better than the two LEDs on a Toyota RAV4.
I’m getting increasingly low standards on taillights.
Oof. I hadn’t noticed that about the Chevy Bolts until you pointed it out. That is pretty bad. I am seriously considering a Bolt as my next car, and may need to dig further into retrofitting the tailgate lights to function as tail lights again (I can’t believe I just typed that).
There is a solution for that already, its a small modification to the wire harness but it works