- Future Mini EVs will switch to the BMW Neue Klasse platform.
- BMW created the Neue Klasse architecture with either rear- or all-wheel drive in mind.
- No cheaper front-wheel-drive version of the platform is planned.
Minis have traditionally been small and fun front-wheel drive cars characterized by their nippy go-kart-like handling. All Minis, both before and after the BMW takeover in 2000, have been front-wheel drive, but a new report suggests that may change in the future as Mini models adopt the new Neue Klasse platform.
Autocar says that when the current electric Minis reach the end of their lifecycle, they will be replaced by Neue Klasse-underpinned cars. They asked Joachim Post, a BMW purchasing and supply board member, about the possible future switch to rear-wheel drive, and he didn’t deny it, stating, “We will see what the future is. We want to make one thing feasible: sheer driving pleasure.”
While that is far from a confirmation, it sounds like he was implying that a switch to RWD is very much in Mini’s future. Unlike Hyundai-Kia or Volkswagen, which have some cheaper front-wheel-drive versions of their E-GMP (used in cars like the Kia EV4) and MEB platforms (used in entry-level VW EVs), BMW has no plans to develop a front-wheel-drive version of its Neue Klasse platform to underpin more affordable models. That means it may have to make future Minis rear-wheel drive.
BMW Blog reached out to BMW to ask about the prospect of front-wheel-drive vehicles made on the Neue Klasse platform, and the manufacturer said it had no such plans. All Neue Klasse cars will have (at least) one permanent magnet motor drive unit in the back. All-wheel-drive cars will get an additional asynchronous motor to power the front axle. There will also be tri- and quad-motor performance BMW EVs made on this platform, likely with two motors per axle, while all base model cars will be rear-wheel-drive.
The first-generation Mini Cooper SE is still among the top three most engaging electric cars I’ve ever driven, even though it was a combustion car converted into an EV. It borrowed the electric motor from the rear-wheel-drive BMW i3S, but it was actually more fun to drive than the BMW, even with the motor driving the front wheels.
Around the time I drove the Cooper SE, I also tried the Honda e, a bespoke rear-wheel-drive EV designed to be a quick and fun city runabout. However, while I really wanted to like that car and it had so many good points, I was surprised to discover that the front-wheel-drive Mini was much more fun to drive and a much bigger enthusiast pleaser than the Honda.
If BMW makes future Mini EVs rear-wheel drive, it will have to do a lot of work on the cars to differentiate them from the BMWs they will share the platform with. Even though there are common traits, BMWs and Minis feel quite different to drive, and a lot of this comes from which axle is powered in cars from each brand.
Even if this becomes reality, Mini’s switch to rear-wheel drive is still a few years away. The manufacturer fairly recently released a new electric three-door Cooper and a five-door crossover called the Aceman, which are built on a reengineered version of the Great Wall Motor front-wheel-drive platform related to the one that underpins the Ora Cat. These new electric Minis will likely be around until toward the end of the decade, so BMW has time to work a front-wheel drive EV platform or retain Mini’s trademark driving manners in a rear-wheel drive package.
