Stretched Mini Cooper 5 Door skips electric drivetrain — EV families left to buy Mini's SUV despite plentiful data supporting EV popularity

It appears as though Mini may be getting cold feet on the EV front, if the recent update to the four-door Mini Cooper is anything to go on. Despite refreshing the tiny, iconic two-door Mini Cooper's two electric variants late last year, Mini has elected to forego electrifying its larger Mini Cooper 5 Door for the 2025 model year.

The Mini Cooper 5 Door is, in essence, a longer, more spacious Mini Cooper, theoretically making a potential electric version a great option for small families that are looking for a more compact EV. The extra length of the Cooper 5 Door could even allow Mini to further increase the size of the battery, giving a hypothetical Cooper 5 Door SE more range than the Cooper SE's 402-km figure.

Despite the potential appeal, the Mini Cooper 5 Door has launched in the UK with two petrol engine options — the Mini Cooper C has 156 HP and a 0–60 time of 8 seconds, while the Mini Cooper S has 204 HP and accelerates from 0–60 MPH in 6.8 seconds — and a starting price of £24,050.

While Mini has been producing the five-door Cooper for many years, the decision to exclude the bigger Mini from the EV line-up is somewhat confusing, considering Mini itself recently published the results of a study it commissioned that found 60% of people are still open to buying an EV. Even more confusing, Mini's study found that as much as 72% of younger generations — Gen Z and Millennials, the exact age demographic that would likely appreciate a smaller, family-friendly car — were open to buying electric vehicles.

“Despite reported concerns in market confidence surrounding EVs, we’re seeing high customer interest in electrification." –Mike Peyton, Vice President of MINI of the Americas

Nevertheless, Mini still has the electric Countryman SE, and an electric Aceman is also on the cards, although they are much larger than the regular Cooper and cost significantly more than the petrol-powered Mini Cooper 5 Door does.

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