You probably thought it already existed, but it doesn’t.

Going on sale in 2019 (how close does 2020 feel all of a sudden?), corporate parent BMW announced the electric version of the MINI Cooper this week.

And when they say electric, they mean electric.

As an increasing amount of countries hop onto the electric car bandwagon, calling for a ban of all petrol cars in the near future, the new MINI will be a pure-electric, three-door hatch, reports Auto Week:

[It] will join gas, diesel and plug-in hybrid versions in the range, with BMW planning to build the electric drivetrain at the BMW Group’s e-mobility center at Plants Dingolfing and Landshut in Bavaria, then ship the assembly to the main U.K. plant that churns out other Minis. It sounds like the three-door hardtop version will be the sole electric Mini variant, as the company made no mention of an electric five-door model.

Although BMW didn’t hint at any of the electric MINI’s specs, given what they did give up about their all-electric car to debut under BMW’s i brand in 2021, it might have a similar range: 540 km.

While we still have a little under two years left for the big reveal, we will just have to stick with ever-impressive MINI Countryman [above] for now, released here in SA back in April.

With the original offerings being a 1,5 litre and a 2 litre engine, here’s more to whet your appetite:

The Countryman is going to appeal to the young-tech savvy family and tech it has aplenty. The standard fittings of the Countryman include the Radio MINI Boost with four-line display in the central instrument and a Bluetooth hands-free telephone facility.

Read more of the full spiel here.

If that does enough to convince you that you really need one, email seth@2oceansvibe.com with the subject line “I need a Countryman”, and he will hook you up with a discount.

[source:autoweek]