As early as October 2022, MINI announced there would be another generation of its chic convertible. At that point, company boss Stefanie Wurst revealed the plan is to bring production in-house at the Oxford plant rather than outsourcing assembly to VDL Nedcar manufacturing company in The Netherlands. We’ve now learned from the automaker’s head honcho that the new droptop model will be introduced this fall.
The disclosure was made by Stefanie Wurst in an interview with BMWBLOG at a press event held in Lisbon, Portugal last week. The new MINI with a folding fabric roof is known internally by its “F67” codename and will be based on the recently introduced 3-Door Hatch (“F66”). That means the British brand will be launching a final generation of the cabrio with combustion engines. From 2030, MINI will go purely electric.
Speaking of zero emissions, we have it on good authority that there will also be another electric convertible. The last one was a special edition based on the first-gen Cooper SE and limited to 999 units, all of which were sold in Europe. Its replacement is expected to be a permanent member of the lineup when it arrives in 2027.
Believed to be codenamed “J03,” the silent convertible from MINI could be added to the assembly line in Oxford about a year after the electric three-door hatchback and the Aceman crossover. These two last models are going into production much sooner since assembly will initially start this year in China. Spotlight Automotive, a 50:50 joint venture between the BMW Group and Great Wall Motor, is making the electric MINI hatch and its five-door crossover sibling at a new factory located in Zhangjiagang in the Jiangsu province.
Another new MINI that has yet to be revealed is the 5-Door Hatch, said to carry the “F65” codename. Its world premiere is likely slated to take place later in 2024. It will be available in a lukewarm Cooper S version but don’t hold your breath for a John Cooper Works since that could be a three-door-only affair.
