Mini will offer its first full production electric car later this year (the Mini E came out in 2009 with limited availability on lease deals). As a teaser for the car's capabilities, the brand has released a commercial of a prototype pulling a cargo plane.
The electric Mini is dubbed the Cooper S E and looks like it will be positioned as a hot hatch, or as shown here, a tiny muscle car. The video shows the Cooper S E hooked to a Boeing 777F cargo plane at Germany's Frankfurt airport. It's easy to imagine the tiny car would be out of breath trying to pull the massive plane, but instead the Cooper S E handles it with ease. It starts slow, but soon enough, the little electric car finds its groove and drags the plane down the runway for a short period of time.
BMW Group, which owns Mini, said in the video's announcement last Thursday that the video is meant to show off the car's muscle and further promote the idea that electric cars aren't wimpy. Indeed, a typical compact car likely wouldn't do very well trying to pull a Boeing aircraft. We can also take this video as the official launch of the Mini Cooper S E's teaser campaign. BMW Group said to expect more fun videos showing the electric car's strength in the weeks to come.
The Mini Cooper S E will likely be powered by the same electric powertrain that's found in the BMW i3 S, but here the electric motor will be dropped onto the Cooper S E's front axle. Recall, the i3 S is rear-wheel drive. In the Mini, it should make 184 horsepower with plenty of instantaneous torque.
The design should be pretty similar to the standard Cooper S minus the "E." The grille is closed up and more accents lights are present. Otherwise, this looks like a standard Mini Cooper.
We're not far from the Cooper S E's launch as the model is tipped to be in showrooms early next year. Expect to see the official reveal at this September's Frankfurt motor show. In the meantime, check out what the electric car can do in the video above.
