Video: Inside the MINI x Dues Ex Machina Concepts with Holger Hampf

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MINI x Dues Ex Machina have succeeded in creating the most talked about MINI concepts in over a decade. But it’s the details that really set them apart. Join us as we take a look at these concepts with Head of MINI Design Holger Hampf.

As Hampf explains, both concepts start from a similar foundation but then take dramatically different paths. A shared white “X” graphic across their roofs ties them together visually, while their design philosophies couldn’t be further apart.

The Skeg leans into surf culture and electric performance. Its exposed seams, chunky switches, and unpolished finishes give it a utilitarian honesty, while the electric drivetrain points toward MINI’s future. It’s playful, functional, and distinctly Californian in spirit.

The Machina, by contrast, is motorsport distilled. Stripped down, aggressive, and fire-breathing, it channels MINI’s rallying heritage into a modern race-bred form. Where the Skeg looks outward to lifestyle, the Machina looks back to MINI’s competition roots.

Walking through the pair together makes it clear: they’re not just design experiments, but provocations. The Skeg and the Machina challenge what John Cooper Works can be — one rooted in culture and the future of electrification, the other in heritage and raw combustion power.

Both are MINI. Both are JCW. But they show just how far the brand’s personality can stretch when its designers are allowed to play.

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