Fastest ever production MINI – new John Cooper Works

At the world press launch last week of the new MINI John Cooper Works Hatchback and Clubman 1.6-litre 211bhp models, Lee Connolly - MINI product and planning manager - said feedback from customers, dealers and MINI enthusiast websites had shown that there was a need for more sporting and ‘edgy’ models with more ‘snap, crackle and pop’.

He said over and above the Cooper S 175bhp variants there was a requirement to provide a production road car with even more power and performance, sharper snappier handling and to return the days when ‘Minis’ of the past had a distinctive exhaust crackle and pop.

The outcome are the MINI John Cooper Works three-door Hatchbacks and the Clubman estate variants.

The John Cooper Works Hatchback, costing £20,995, will go on sale from 22 July 2008, Press Day at the British International Motor Show. John Cooper Works Clubman models for the UK will follow in the first quarter of 2009.

Markets outside the UK will receive the go-faster Clubman models this year but they will not be fitted with the JCW aerodynamic body styling kit which is still being developed.

Prices for the John Cooper Works Clubman models for the UK will be announced at a later date once the final specification is known.

Feedback from UK MINI owners, enthusiasts and dealers said that John Cooper Works Clubman models should only be sold with the distinctive body tweaks found on the new JCW Hatchback version and as these have yet to be finalised said Lee Connolly there will be this delay in their introduction.

Connolly added that all MINI model ranges in the future will include JCW variants, including the new Convertible which is due Spring next year and a forthcoming SUV version which will be built by Steyr in Austria. A concept of this future MINI SUV will be shown at the Paris Motor Show in October this year.

Connolly said, “John Cooper Works is now a sporting sub-brand of MINI and the name is inextricably linked to British motorsport and the MINI brand.

In 2001 the Cooper name was reborn with the introduction by BMW Group of the new MINI in 2001 and with Cooper developing aftermarket tuning kits.

From 2007 BMW Group acquired rights to the John Cooper Brand but the Cooper Car Company still develops and supplies car accessories for various other business customers including hardware components for the current MINI Hatchback and aftersales tuning kit.

Like all MINIs to date the John Cooper Works models will be built at Plant Cowley Oxford where annual total MINI production of 260,000 vehicles is possible. 237,709 vehicles were produced there last year and 60 per cent of the content of the second-generation MINI comes from the UK.

Plant Swindon provides 90 per cent of MINI body pressings and 80 per cent of pre-assembled body components. Plant Hams Hall Birmingham provides all the petrol engines for MINI. The new uprated JCW 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engines are also being supplied by Plant Hams Hall.

The UK is still the largest market in the world for the British built MINI and in 2007 47,500 MINIS were sold in this country. This year 50,000 sales is the target and 2009 should see a further growth once the new Convertible models become available.

Of total MINI production Cooper S model sales in the UK will be in the region of 5,500 units this year, 6,000 in 2009 and 6,200 in 2010.

Regarding the John Cooper Works versions Lee Connolly said he expected 730 Hatchbacks to be sold this year, 820 JCW Hatchbacks and 430 Clubman model sales in 2009 and 850 Hatchbacks and 450 Clubman versions in 2010.

He added, “The figures can change depending upon demand, we have no limit on production.”

Connolly added, “In the UK the MINI product is primarily bought by retail customers, around 85 per cent, ranging in age from 17 to 80 years and across the range the female to male sales split is 50-50.

"The initial advance orders accounting for all of the first three months production for the new JCW models show 95 per cent are from male customers but that doesn’t mean that only males will be driving or using the cars on a regular basis.

"We are receiving significant interest from current owners of powerful sports cars, saloons and even premium 4x4s who are now actively down-sizing due to road congestion, parking issues, high taxation and rising fuel prices but they still want a high performance quality car.”

MINI will be offering their well-liked five-year/50,000 tlc £150 inflation-proof servicing package for the new John Cooper Works models.

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