Mini To Possibly Separate JCW Models, Diesels Likely

William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

January 27, 2012

Mini Boss Kay Segler has revealed some interesting information to Car & Driver this week. First, Segler talked about Mini’s John Cooper Works possibly becoming something like BMW’s M performance brand. This idea comes with good and bad news - if it was implemented, that would mean JCW models would be positioned as stand-alone models, which means more power to differentiate them.

Unfortunately, Selger said that AWD was currently too expensive to implement in Minis unless the brand sees a large sales volume increase. Executives and engineers know they’re almost hitting the wall on how much power can be sent to the front wheels with the JCW models. The question of how power will be added is up in the air at the moment.

Segler also talked about diesels. He said that the most common request American customers is diesel engines.

“We’re delighted to hear it. We are looking into this not for the short term, but for the medium term,” Segler said.

In other words, expect a diesel option after the third generation Mini is launched.

Source: Car & Driver