MINI Superleggera: Approved Electric Roadster That Never Reached Production

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How MINI’s most jaw-dropping concept went electric, almost reached showrooms and still shapes the brand today.

Buried in BMW’s 2014 product minutes sits a line that still raises eyebrows: “MINI Superleggera – limited production approved.” For a brief spell the hand-formed, battery-powered roadster was more than a concours darling; it had a budget, a build slot and part numbers on the way. How that green light turned amber—and what the car has meant to MINI ever since—is the story that follows.

Even MINI’s promotional video from the time is incredible.

From Lake Como Lightning Bolt to Cult Icon

Back in May 2014 the wraps came off the MINI Superleggera Vision at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Designed hand-in-hand with Touring Superleggera, the one-off coach-built roadster mashed pure British cheek with Italian couture and—crucially—an all-electric power-train. Long bonnet, cartoon-short overhangs, hand-beaten aluminium and that dramatic rear fin shouted “1950s Le Mans” while hiding a closed grille that whispered “zero tail-pipe”. MINI’s own press kit called it “timeless beauty that blends the traditional with the modern” and highlighted hand-formed panels, Como Blue paint and Union-Jack tail-lamps that previewed today’s production MINIs.  

What the crowd didn’t know was that this car was running. Under the skin sat a workable battery pack and a rear-mounted e-motor good enough for parade laps in secrecy. Right from the start Superleggera was conceived as a halo EV, not a styling buck.  

Green-lit, Then Red-lit

According to internal emails unearthed in Steve Saxty’s BMW by Design, MINI’s board actually approved a production run. Engineers pencilled in a €120 k price tag and former R&D boss Herbert Diess even rang up KTM to explore low-volume assembly. Ultimately complexity, margin anxiety and a model-range that was already ballooning killed the program.  

We’ve written about the Superleggera over the years but there’s our 2019 retrospective captured the heartbreak succinctly: “the car that was almost a halo—approved and then ultimately cancelled—yet it ushered in a new era of design thinking at MINI.”  

The incredible details of the Superleggera that we captured at its North America Debut

Our Hands-On Experience

Seeing the Superleggera is one thing; experiencing it in the metal is another. We were fortunate to spend quality time with the concept at its North American debut and were blown away—not just by the overall design, but by the exquisite details. Its classic silhouette, laced with thoughtful modern touches (especially inside), is a nuance lost in most press photos from the era. MINI clearly wanted this car on the street, and credit goes to then-head of MINI Design Anders Warming and his team for bridging classic and modern so effortlessly.

Why It Still Matters in 2025

First it’s about the Design DNA – The Union-Jack light graphic, single-sheet aluminium dashboard and pared-back surfacing have all trickled into the J01 electric Cooper and U25 Countryman. In our conversations with former MINI design boss Oliver Heilmer, he pointed directly to the Superleggera sketches when talking about “reduction to the essentials” that formed the new MINI design language.

The Superleggera may not be in showrooms, but its DNA hasn’t been forgotten. Especially given the fact that it was to be MINI’s first fully electric vehicle to hit showrooms globally. Before the Cooper SE, Superleggera proved to Munich that an emotional MINI could be electric (and potentially profitable)

Could It Happen Now?

With BMW’s Neue Klasse architecture arriving in 2026, an aluminium-space-frame MINI roadster could finally share batteries, motors and software without torpedoing margins. Touring’s lightweight “super-leggera” construction dovetails neatly with the platform’s flat-floor skateboard. The numbers still look brutal, but so did €120 k in 2015—nearly what Porsche now charges for a Boxster RS Spyder with no electrification.

MINI’s current mantra is “less complexity, more character.” A coach-built, two-seat, 250-mile roadster that trades practicality for pure feel-good brand aura might be exactly the low-volume, high-impact statement the marque needs as it pushes toward 50 % EV sales by 2030.

Killing the £35k J03 electric convertible last winter leaves MINI without an open-top EV. Fans still see a space for a limited-run roadster that would do for MINI what the Z8 did for BMW. But given the immense pressures are companies like BMW with recent tariffs and the massive investments in electrification, sadly we’re not holding our breath.

Superleggera Official Photos and Sketches

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