2025 Mini Cooper JCW E: 255 HP Electric Hot Hatch Uncovered

The hottest version of the new electric Mini will be officially revealed later this fall.

Mini JCW E

Photo by: MIIT

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Sep 16, 2024 at 10:30am ET

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The 2025 Mini Cooper JCW E looks almost identical to the Cooper SE in JCW trim.
Its power output is confirmed at 255 hp, which should make it about half a second quicker to sprint than the SE.
The car's official debut is expected sometime later this fall.

After previewing a camouflaged version of the upcoming Cooper JCW E at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, Mini was planning to officially unveil the model in full sometime before the end of 2024. However, the hottest version of the new electric Cooper has been revealed to the public by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in China.

The previously speculated power bump from 215 hp to 255 horsepower is confirmed, as is the fact that it weighs about the same as the made-in-China 2024 Mini Cooper SE, which we tested not long ago. This means it has that model’s 54.2-kilowatt-hour battery pack with a usable capacity of 49.2 kWh.

In Europe, this grants the SE a claimed WLTP range of up to 249 miles, but given the JCW’s extra performance, its range will be slightly lower.

The extra power (and potentially grippier, more aggressive tires) should allow the JCW to accelerate to 62 mph (100 km/h) about half a second quicker than the Cooper SE, whose claimed sprint time is 6.7 seconds. The JCW is still a single-motor, front-wheel-drive vehicle, and based on our experience with the SE, even it has some trouble putting its power down, so we don’t expect it to be much faster off the line.

As hinted at by the Mini John Cooper Works E Prototype, the production JCW will have a unique exterior body kit, but nothing as extreme as the older gas-burning John Cooper Works GP model with its widened fenders and oversized aero. It has the same more aggressive front and rear bumpers and side skirts as the Cooper SE in JCW trim, including the large roof-mounted spoiler.

If the European version is the same as the Chinese car in the photos, you won’t be able to tell the Cooper SE JCW apart from the actual JCW model. The only obvious giveaway is the graphic on the lower part of the hatch in the back, which looks like a stylized checkered flag—this will probably be an option. The car in the MIIT photos also appears to have a white-painted rear apron, which, like the hatch sticker, could be optional and/or just for the Chinese market.

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Enthusiasts will be able to tell the JCW trim apart from the actual model by the different wheel design (still 18 inches, like on the non-JCW model) and the larger brakes with red-painted calipers. There are also some John Cooper Works badges around the vehicle, like next to the “Cooper” script on the back, on the two sides of the rear wing, and on the grille in the front. The prototype also had these logos on the lower part of the front bumper, but they’re not present on the car in the photos from China.

The Cooper JCW may have a lower ride height than the SE, but MIIT documents don't mention it. We also don’t get to see the interior, which could feature more body-hugging sportier seats, as well as other sporty details you would expect to find on the hot version of a model.

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