Exclusive: MINI to Kill the New Countryman Electric Early

[DimON]

The U25 electric MINI Countryman is a hugely important new offering from the brand that takes its best selling model and pairs it up with 100% electric power. It’s one of the most highly anticipated models from the brand ever yet in just a few years MINI plans to kill it. Taking its place will be something completely new and the most advanced product from the brand ever.

The same sources that we’ve partnered with to decipher so many aspects the 4th generation MINIs in the last few years are now helping us uncover what’s next. The first bombshell is just how short a lifespan the U25 electric MINI Countryman will have. We can now exclusively report that the electric version of the U25 MINI Countryman will cease production in October 2028 lasting less than five years on the market.

That doesn’t mean the U25 generation of the MINI Countryman will be dead in 2028. The ICE powered Countryman C, S and JCW will have (at least) a normal seven year product cycle until its production ends on December 31st, 2030. And even that’s influx. We’re hearing that that date is tentative and might be extended based on demand. But more on that at a later date.

MINI Countryman – Electric Models	Drivetrain	Start of Production	End of Production
U25 MINI Countryman E	Electric	03/2024	10/2028
U25 MINI Countryman SE ALL4	Electric	03/2024	10/2028
MINI Countryman – ICE Models
U25 MINI Countryman C	ICE (Petrol)	11/2023	12/2030*
U25 MINI Countryman D	ICE (Diesel)	11/2023	12/2030*
U25 MINI Countryman S ALL4	ICE (Petrol)	11/2023	12/2030*
U25 MINI John Cooper Works Countryman ALL4	ICE (Petrol)	03/2024	12/2030*

* Tentative as demand may push this back

Why is MINI Killing Its First Electric Countryman So Early?

Why is MINI killing such an important electric model early? Because it has something better coming. The U25 Countryman is based on an updated FAAR platform (FAAR WE) and it was designed as a stop-gap of sorts. It can accommodate everything from an internal combustion power-plant to a plugin hybrid (which only BMW offers on this platform) to full electric. Because of this Swiss-army knife approach there are tradeoffs. For one the electric U25 MINI Countryman can’t pack as many battery cells as dedicated skateboard chassis EV can because it has to deal with structure built for internal combustion drivetrains. And there are many other trade-offs that have to be made to allow a single platform to work for so many drivetrain options.

But that reason alone isn’t why MINI won’t have a full seven year model lifecycle for the new U25 MINI Countryman electric.

A clay model from the development of the J01 MINI Cooper

The 2028 NE5 MINI Countryman

MINI is replacing the electric version of the U25 with an all new Countryman based on an all new BMW platform designed from the ground-up to be electric. The 2028 MINI Countryman (codenamed the NE5) will be the first MINI based on BMW’s all new dedicated electric platform known as the Neue Klasse. The Neue Klasse (or NCAR as it’s known internally) will be BMW’s single platform that will underpin every future BMW and MINI across the range. Because of the highly variable nature of skateboard chassis, that means there will be foundational elements of the NCAR in everything from a MINI Countryman to a BMW X7.

Given the inherent benefits of using a dedicated electric platform for future EVs, BMW and MINI are planning to aggressively move their electric offerings to the new platform. Naturally this timeline means different things for different cars depending on where they are in their lifecycle. For MINI this means an under five year lifecycle for the U25 electric Countryman. Similarly for the just announced BMW X2, we’d expect a short life-span. However for a car like the BMW X1 (which is a twin of the U25 Countryman) the timing lines-up much closer to the standard seven year lifecycle.

At the time of publication, our sources are telling us to expect the NE5 MINI Countryman EV to have a lifecycle from 11/2028 to 10/2036.

The U25 MINI Countryman in early design form

Two Completely Different Countryman On the Market At the Same Time

The result of this strategy will see two very different Countryman on sale at the same time. Not unlike the forthcoming electric J01 and ICE F66 MINI Cooper, the U25 and NE5 will be sold alongside of each other for several years in an attempt to offer consumers a choice of powertrains as much of the world gradually goes electric.

Our assumption is that the launch of the NE5 Countryman will coincide with the LCI of the U25 giving MINI a chance to create a similar design approach for both cars. That would be the same strategy as the J01 and F66 which means that the powertrain is the key buying factor vs the exterior and interior design.

BMW isn’t the only brand with this strategy. Porsche is going down the same route with the ICE powered Porsche Macan and the all new Macan EV. The thought from both MINI and Porsche is simple. Hedge your bets because different markets will adopt EVs at a different pace. How long will MINI offer ICE powered models? While MINI has tentative end of production dates associated with all of its ICE offerings, there’s always a chance that could slip based on demand.

Does This Mean I Shouldn’t Consider a U25 MINI Countryman Electric?

Absolutely not. Five years is a longtime and if you’re always waiting for something better or new, you’ll be stuck in an endless cycle of wait or regret. Our opinion is to buy what you need, want or something that just makes you happy. And from our brief time with the U25 2025 MINI Countryman, we think a lot of buyers will be just that.

The post Exclusive: MINI to Kill the New Countryman Electric Early first appeared on MotoringFile.

The post Exclusive: MINI to Kill the New Countryman Electric Early appeared first on MotoringFile.

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