Munich/Asheville. Sunshine, rising temperatures, fresh green scenery: Right on time for summer, MINI is presenting the all-electric MINI Cooper SE as a convertible for the first time. Not as a series production version, but as a unique specimen that shows how the path to an all-electric premium brand could continue and also electrify classic sporty open-air driving in the future. As an open four-seater, the MINI Cooper SE Convertible is the world’s only premium convertible with a fully electric drivetrain in the small car segment. With this frontrunner, the British premium brand combines classic sportiness, maximum open-top driving fun and locally emission-free electric mobility for the first time.
The one-off model will be shown to the public for the first time at the traditional community event “MINI Takes the States” in the USA. The winding roads between Burlington in Vermont and Greenville-Spartanburg in South Carolina are perfect for giving the assembled MINI community a first impression of the typical MINI go-kart feeling in the outfit of a MINI Cooper SE Convertible.
The unique specimen is based on the body of the MINI Cooper S Convertible. The electrified MINI Convertible also shares the dimensions of 3,863 mm in length with a wheelbase of 2,495 mm, a width of 1,727 mm and a height of 1,415 mm. The load volume in the luggage compartment also remains unchanged at 160 l.
The drive technology comes from the BMW Group’s electric mobility competence centres in Dingolfing and Landshut. The MINI Cooper SE Convertible uses the same drive components as the three-door MINI Cooper SE. The exceptionally harmonious axle load distribution due to the small electric motor favours agile and easily controllable handling. With the top down now in the future, too.
The 135 kW/184 hp electric motor, like in the MINI Cooper SE, transfers the agile handling with the hallmark go-kart feeling to the world of electric mobility and enables acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h in 7.7 seconds. With a range of 230 kilometres determined in the WLTP test cycle, open-air excursions in urban environments as well as well beyond the city limits are possible. The MINI Cooper SE Convertible combines open-top driving fun with clever functionality. The fully electric and thus particularly quiet textile soft top can be opened and closed within 18 seconds. At the touch of a button, the soft top can be activated when driving up to 30 km/h and allows three settings: open, closed or as a sunroof.
With this one-off, MINI is appealing to the ever-growing fan community of the brand’s hallmark open-air driving fun and, at the same time, electrifying the global vehicle market with another segment – sustainably, transparently and comprehensibly. The successful transformation of the MINI brand to electric mobility is demonstrated particularly impressively by the example of the MINI Cooper SE model. With growth of plus 132%, the model was the pulse generator for the MINI brand in 2021. In Germany, the largest market for the MINI Cooper SE, almost every third MINI is already electrified. To make this enthusiasm for electrified driving sustainable, MINI makes every day charging easy and convenient. MINI Charging provides MINI drivers in Germany with flexible solutions for charging at home and at work, as well as access to one of the largest public charging networks in Europe, comprising more than 250,000 charging points.
SOURCE: BMW Group
