This is the Mini John Cooper Works concept, which previews the look of the hottest version of the new third-gen Mini. The new JCW takes the larger, third-gen Mini three-door, which was revealed at Oxford last month, and gives it a triple nostrilled front bumper, red bodywork accents and myriad (doubtless superficial) vents for a racier look than its predecessor.
New intakes also usurp the previous car’s front foglights, and 18in five-spoke alloys ape the look of the outgoing Mini GP flagship. There’s also a more radical bodykit turned up to eleven, featuring a new roof spoiler, rear diffuser and bulky side skirts. The trademark central twin exhaust pipes remain, as does the array of stripes and colour combos.
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What’s going to power the 2014 Mini JCW?
Mini’s not revealed anything official with these concept car images, but it’s expected that the JCW will use an even higher tuned version of the same 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder that’s used in the new Cooper S. That’s a fair step up in size over the current JCW’s 1.6-litre, which makes 211bhp, yet the power hike is a more modest 4bhp, for a grand total of 215bhp. That puts its firmly ahead of the 192bhp the Cooper S while knocking of the door of bigger hot hatches, such as the 217bhp VW Golf GTI.
And while it packs a bigger punch, new adaptive suspension settings and a wider track mean that the new car has the potential to be a more sophisticated drive than the fun but wayward old JCW Mini.
The Mini Cooper JCW is expected in showrooms in mid-2014, priced from around £23,000.