“They make an emotive appeal to the passengers in the interior while shaping the acoustic perception to the outside world. They also make it sound, as well as look, unmistakably a Mini.”
There will be four ‘experience modes’: Core, Go-kart, Timeless and Balance, each with a bespoke sound to accompany acceleration. They are completely synthesised, but said to still convey an authentic and informative link with throttle inputs.
The Core soundtrack, notably, will be audible from both inside and outside the car, with a view to alerting pedestrians of the car’s approach. Unlike the Abarth 500e’s artificial exhaust note, Core is described as an “inviting, energetic and inspiring” sound, reminiscent of “the sun radiating warmth”.
Meanwhile, Go-kart has been tuned to convey sportiness, Timeless adds elements of celebrated combustion-engined Minis of days gone by, and Balance is “based on thesounds experienced in a forest at different times of the day and night: from the babbling of a stream to the chirping of crickets and the rustling of the wind in the treetops”.
The second generation of Mini’s small EV – now called the Cooper – will be built in China atop a new front-wheel-drive platform engineered by Spotlight Automotive, BMW’s joint venture with Great Wall.
A petrol-engined version, evolved more obviously from the current car, will be built in Oxford, sitting on an entirely different platform but taking the same design direction. Autocar has already reported in-depth details of the long-awaited 2024 Cooper, following a briefing from Mini boss Stefanie Wurst and a prototype ride in Sweden, but new images sent to Autocar give our first look at the final production design.
