MINI SE Electric: Hood scoop or nah?

In this case, the marketing department made the decision. I have a letter from the head of design.

 

Maybe. Or management executives, or the CEO, or or. Out of curiosity, what exactly did the head of design say? Assuming you have contact with the head of design as opposed to a leak of internal communication, did you ask him/her what/who/why the final production model has the scoop?

 

You guys got me thinking about how much I miss the shaker hood with the puking chicken. I may have to add one to my SE, and turn the boring piano black into some engine turned aluminum.

 

Thunderchickeeeeeennnnn

 

It reminds me of those Ferrari replicas that were built out of a fiero!

 

Sorry, that's not a replica. It's the real thing baby!

 

I am not saying the firebird is a replica. It's the fact that it's a Pontiac that reminds me of the fiero.

 

Do we have to haul Coors across the Mississippi now?

 

I've been a Mini fan since John Cooper turned Alec Issigonis' tiny economy car into a giant-killer at the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally. None of John Cooper's Minis had a hood scoop.

The hood scoop for BMW's supercharged MINI Cooper S made sense, but the MINI Cooper S hood scoop hasn't been functional since a turbocharger replaced the supercharger. People got used to identifying the hottest MINI Coopers by the presence of a hood scoop, so MINI retained the look, if not the function.

I perceived the ornamental scoop as MINI's single styling concession to vanity. Every other exterior component served a functional purpose.

In 2009, when the MINI E was offered for lease in very small numbers, I had been driving a gas-electric hybrid Honda Insight for 7 years. I was excited by the prospect of having a fully electric MINI. Then, to my dismay, instead of an electric MINI, BMW brought forth the i3.

Nine years after the MINI E, spy photos began to appear of the camouflaged SE. None of those pre-production prototypes had a hood scoop. I was happy to see that MINI realized the fake hood scoop no longer made sense on an electric vehicle.

Then, in July, 2019, MINI unveiled the MINI Cooper SE--with a hood scoop. I was very disappointed and I wrote letters to the head of BMW, the head of MINI, the head of Plant Oxford, the head of MINI USA, and the head designer, Oliver Heilmer. In my letter I asked to pay $1,500 to get the less-expensive scoopless base MINI hood installed on my SE in the factory.

Only one of those people responded to my plea: Oliver Heilmer. In his very short note he wrote "I will take up your suggestion with marketing." He said so much in so few words, but I'm confident I'm interpreting his message correctly.

That quoted sentence is the rock-solid basis for my claim that the designers didn't think a hood scoop belongs on an electric MINI. Additional evidence is the absence of a hood scoop on every single SE prototype, concept drawing, and concept car.

I wonder if my logic has seeped into the minds of those with the final cut on the Zhangjiagang SE?

 

Ultimately the buck stops at the top so the CEO/president was the one who decided the scoop to stay or decided that marketing's call for the scoop is favored based on whatever the objectives that the decision was based upon.

I am glad that they decided to have the scoop on the SE, otherwise I might have to endure a similar saga to put a scooped hood onto my SE.

Also I can see what the marketing team might have thought in regards to the scoop. The current SE is built on the primarily same platform as the ICE R56 and people know pretty well the distinction between the Cooper S and the Cooper, that is, the S has more horsepower and higher performance and such. Since the electric Cooper is a high performance model with 200 HP and such, it would be appropriate to keep the scoop so it would be identified as the high performance model and not the base Cooper with lower horsepower.

As for the Chinese electric mini, it's a totally new platform which will not have any heritage/lineage to the existing Cooper, so it would make sense that it won't have the scoop as it's a completely new model.

 

There's something missing, I just can't put my finger on it.



Oh yeah, the special, aerodynamic air-curtain vents that replaced the beautiful fog lights on my SE. I wonder why the grille-surround is chrome when there's no chrome anywhere else? Will these all-metal wheel wells rust out?

 

It's not chrome (see full-size image at story). It's a brushed metal, maybe aluminium? Doesn't the MINI Resolute Edition use bronze?

 

Thanks. I didn't read far enough.

Will MINI be selling a $600 black trim replacement for the brushed-metal grille surround??

 

Yeah, I miss the REAL fog lights.

 

At least MINI knows how to keep their fake hood scoops attached to the hood!

Ford Recalls Bronco Sport Fake Hood Scoop Because It May Detach While Driving

I glad I had a scoopless non-S hood installed as soon as my SE was delivered. As my historical slide-show illustrates, an electric MINI shouldn't have a hood scoop. Clearly, Head of MINI Design, Oliver Heilmer, agrees because when he finally wrested final-edit away from the scoop-loving marketing department, the J01 SE emerged scoopless.

However, now that we've spied the scoopless J01 JCW trim level (a gussied-up J01 SE with the same basic motor), I'm wondering if the genuine JCW J01 will get a hood scoop to differentiate it from the JCW J01 trim-only pretenders? Customers who pony up the bucks for a genuine JCW will want people to know it's genuine, but the JCW-trim customers will cry foul if the genuine JCW looks better. Will there be a market for fake JCW fake hood scoops?

I was surprised how difficult it was to sell my pristine S hood. It didn't sell for $1 on ebay (I didn't offer free shipping). Six months later, someone who saw my Facebook ad showed up in a van and took it out of my garage for a mere $180.