New Mini Cooper unveiled – it will be the LAST version of the British icon to have a petrol engine

When the original Mini arrived on the scene in 1959, it changed the world of motoring.

The Sir Alec Issigonis-designed car was tiny in dimensions but spacious enough for four passengers. And it was cheap to run thanks to its light weight and 848cc A-series petrol engine.

It is remembered as the car that brought affordable driving to the masses in Britain. But this week marks the beginning of the end for the combustion-engined Mini. 

That’s because the brand – now owned by BMW – has unveiled the last of its much-loved small cars that will be sold with a petrol engine under the bonnet before it makes the transition to electric vehicles (EV) from 2030.

Scroll down for our picture special look back at the history of the Mini 

The latest fourth-generation ‘BMW Mini’ will be available to UK customers in a matter of weeks and will signal the beginning of the end for the iconic car’s relationship with petrol power.

No longer called the three-door ‘Hatch’, the latest model has been dubbed the ‘Cooper’ by parent company BMW. 

The new Mini Cooper C and S is on sale now alongside the electric Cooper E and SE that were unveiled in September – but the cheapest petrol version will cost around £10,000 less than the most affordable EV.

Visually, it is identical to the electric versions showcased at the end of last year, with bosses saying the design takes inspiration from the classic Mini of 65 years earlier.

Stefanie Wurst, head of Mini, said the new Cooper C and Cooper S are ‘ideal for all those people who want to drive a classic Mini 3-door and appreciate the traditional performance and characteristic sound of a combustion engine’.

Produced at Mini’s Plant Oxford site in Cowley – unlike the electric Coopers which are being built in China in partnership with EV maker Great Wall –  it will be priced from £22,300, with first customer deliveries promised to arrive in the spring. 

That is quite a lot cheaper than the entry Cooper E.

The base electric Mini costs £31,945 – that’s a premium of £9,645.

The combustion-engined Cooper S is cheaper than the outgoing version, with prices dropping from £27,555 to £26,700 for the fourth-generation car.

This is £6,745 less than the electric Cooper SE.

The company says the new fourth-gen Mini ’embodies the brand’s core principles’: go-kart handling and creative use of space. 

While the new model gets an interior and exterior redesign, under the bonnet is the same tried-and-tested BMW engines from the existing Mini Hatch.

Two turbocharged motors are available, with the Cooper C using the 1.5-litre three-cylinder unit with 154bhp and the S fitted with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder powerplant generating 201bhp.

Both cars get an automatic gearbox only, meaning there’s no longer a manual Mini on sale.

It comes with no fewer than seven driving settings – which Mini calls ‘Experience Modes’.

These include: Core, Green, Go-Kart, Personal, Vibrant, Timeless and Balance. Each of these setup the dynamic characteristics of the car differently and change the ambient lighting and digital displays inside.

Go-Kart Mode is the one that grabs attention most, which Mini says focuses on the brand’s racing DNA and turns the interior and display anthracite and red and analogue-style dials are replicated on the screen.

The styling is dominated by newly designed circular LED headlights, which are available optionally with three customisable light signatures, each with a specially orchestrated welcome and goodbye animation. 

The rear cluster can also be switched to different modes in the same way as the headlights.

The big talking point inside the newly-unveiled petrol Mini is its massive OLED display that is 9.4 inch across – the first round OLED to ever feature in a production passenger car, the brand says.

This also replaces the driver’s instrument cluster, with a speedo and fuel gauge displayed in a menu bar on the screen.

The touchscreen also houses the bulk of the climate controls.

When users select the Personal Mode, they can select their own images for the OLED display background uploaded via the Mini app – the dominant colours of the photo chosen for the ambient lighting to match it.

The automatic transmission gear selector has been shifted to a control panel below the touchscreen to present an uncluttered cockpit – though there are small function buttons for the front and rear window demisters and basic volume controls.

Harking back to the original, the ignition switch is a dash-mounted toggle that replicates where the key would have gone in a classic Mini.

In terms of luggage space, the boot is a single litre smaller than the outgoing Mini at 210 litres.

However, it still offers 25 litres of additional carrying capacity than you can squeeze into the back of its biggest rival, the Fiat 500 Hybrid (which starts from £16,790).

While this is officially the last new three-door Mini hatchback launched with petrol engines, a five-door variant is due to follow later this year.

A John Cooper Works hot hatch is also in the pipeline, and Mini will add a Convertible to the range next year.

These Minis will represent the conventional hatchback range until the end of the decade.

Earlier this week, the company confirmed the last Mini Clubman had been built in the UK, with the brand ceasing outputs of estate-shaped cars in favour of crossover SUV models. The Clubman’s indirect replacement will be forthcoming Aceman EV. 

BMW Group confirmed last year that Mini will transform into a fully-electric brand by 2030, with deadlines already set in stone for how it will transition.

It will launch its final new model with an internal combustion engine under the bonnet in 2025, hoping this will see half of all sales being electric cars by 2027.

It has also committed to manufacturing EVs in Britain with a fresh investment in its Plant Oxford car factory.

Step back in time with the Mini: The history of Britain’s most iconic car

On 26 August 1959, the original Mini was launched to the world. 

Penned by Sir Alec Issigonis, it’s a design that broke the mould; tiny in dimensions but spacious enough for four passengers, it was aimed at the masses to provide affordable motoring at a time when the cost of driving had escalated for all.

It still lives on today – be it under the ownership of German giants BMW – in the shape of a not-so-dinky retro range that has seen the traditional three-door hatchback joined by a raft of variants, from the SUV Countryman to sporty Coupe and Roadster models.

While it might not be the same diminutive original that was built to a budget, its continuation does mean we can cast an eye back 65 years of almost unbroken production to mark what is, without doubt, Britain’s – and arguably the world’s – most iconic car.

The Mini was commissioned by BMC (British Motor Corporation) because of the fuel shortage caused by the 1959 Suez Crisis.

Petrol was rationed, prices soared and typically large British cars became instantly less desirable.

Elsewhere across Europe, ‘miniature’ model sales started to boom as buyers looked to downsize their vehicles and motoring costs. 

Bubble cars in Germany – like the BMW Isetta and Messerschmitt KRs – became a big hit while Italians flocked to buy the Fiat 500 when it went on sale in 1957. 

BMC president Sir Leonard Lord set out a design brief for the car maker to produce its own small-scale vehicle, which importantly needed to have box-like measurements, offer ample space and – in order to keep costs down – use an existing powerplant. 

Issigonis, who had been drafted in for the project, sketched out a design that was a mere ten feet long, four foot seven and a half inches wide and became the epitome of ‘Tardis’ design.

That’s because despite the puny external dimensions, inside the original Mini was unfathomably roomy – which was all down to clever architecture.

With the tried and tested BMC A-Series four-cylinder, water-cooled engine turned through 90 degrees and mounted transversely, and the use of a monocoque instead of a traditional chassis – with the suspension and engine gearbox assemblies being carried on sub frames – it had freed up the majority of the cabin floorplan for passenger space.

BMC anticipated that orders would flood in and so, having previewed a production version of the vehicle to the press in April 1959, had already assembled 7,000 examples for the official launch four months later on August 26.

On its introduction it was offered under the Austin and Morris names – as the Seven and Mini-Minor respectively. 

It wasn’t until a decade later that Mini became a marque of its own (though it went back to the Austin Mini name in 1980).

It was produced at Oxford until 1968 under the ownership of BMC before assembly was moved to Longbridge near Birmingham, where it continued to be built until October 2000 under the guise of British Leyland (1968-1986) and Rover Group (1986-2000).

In total, the classic-shape Mini went through seven different iterations and included the Traveller, Clubman, Countryman and Van variants – though all retained the same character, dimensional formula and legendary design.

Given how responsive it was to drive and the efforts of racing car designer John Cooper, motorsport accomplishments also came.

Most notable of them was the Mini Cooper S winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964 in the hands of the late Paddy Hopkirk.

The Mini repeated the feat in Monte Carlo again in 1965 (driven by Timo Mäkinen) and 1967 (Rauno Aaltonen) – and was controversially disqualified from the results after placing first to third in the 1966 event.

And there was, of course, the car’s memorable appearance alongside Sir Michael Caine in the 1969 hit caper film, ‘The Italian Job‘ and its regular feature in ’90s TV sitcom ‘Mr Bean’ played by Rowan Atkinson, both of which helped to cement its stardom.

Between 1959 and 2000 – when the Rover Group was eventually broken up by BMW – more than 5.3million classic Minis were built.

Assembly returned to Oxford in 2001 following the takeover by the German auto giants, where it remains today. 

In August 2019, Mini celebrated the production of the 10 millionth model, marked by a gathering of 60 vehicles at the Cowley factory – one for every year the car has been manufactured. 

And the Mini Hatch is still very popular today.

In 2023, it was Britain’s seventh most-bought new car, with Mini dealers selling 33,385 examples. 

While they no longer keep to the compact scale that made the classic so famous, it is at least fitting that Mini’s bold step into the next generation of passenger cars – electrification – will continue at Plant Oxford.

BMW and the UK Government will invest a combined £600million to transform the Cowley factory into an EV production site – a move described by both BMW and the Government as ‘a vote of confidence in Britain’ and one that will safeguard a national automotive icon.

The announcement in September 2023 said the move will secure 4,000 UK jobs and see the Oxford site become an electric-only production line from 2030.

Government sources have declined to set out the level of taxpayer support being offered to BMW, but did not dispute the previously reported figure of £75million.

While the question of whether Alec Issigonis – who died at the age of 81 in October 1988 – would have approved of BMW’s Mini of today will remain unknown, it’s testament to his design that many refuse to consider the latest examples as a continuation of the much loved and revered original.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk