You probably think they should stop making Morgans, too? Clearly from the backlog of ordered SEs, it's a successful model and I believe we all want MINI to keep making money--if for no other reason than to continue supporting our SEs. So I say keep making the long in the tooth model as long as possible so there will be as many SE owners as possible.
Nah, dropping in the electric drivetrain for the SE should have been considered a new model, especially with the 2022 LCI refresh. It's taken the performance of the current platform to a whole new level. Major versions always come with new engine designs, but because the SE was a retrofit into the existing body it wasn't seen the way it should have been. EV fans who are not MINI drivers focus on the lower range, but the car is so much more than how far it goes.
I just highly suspect that the new Mini mini EV won’t be sold in North America. So the SE is the end of it for North America. We might still get the gas version for a while though. It feels very exclusive in the SE club right now. Much more exclusive than the Taycan crowd. I want to keep it that way, if possible. Which i think that is pretty possible. When my family gather on zoom. They talked about EVs and only talked about Tesla haha.
I couldn't find current global sales figures, but GoodCarBadCar in 2012 wrote: "Even though Mini is sold worldwide, the United States is considered to be its largest market." Of course, the sales of small cars in the US have dwindled considerably since 2012; The Truth About Cars wrote MINI USA sold 36,372 cars in 2019, but only 28,138 cars in 2020. However, last year, InsideEVs wrote: "8% Of MINI Sales In The U.S. Will Be Electric This Year -- The MINI Cooper SE seems to be a perfect fit for the brand."
An anecdote from my dealer, which I take to mean interest in the SE is very high: service advisor said they tried really hard to get an SE in their loaner fleet, but only had one SE dealer car. It finally got assigned to the loaner fleet, but it was constantly being taken out of rotation because of all the test drives scheduled for it. Service advisor said they never once were able to lend it out as a loaner.
As a reminder, during the MINI Together event in July MINI strongly hinted a convertible BEV was on the horizon.
but the pedastrian warning sound kills it’s enjoyment. i love the silent rolling that my prius afforded me when the engine is not on.
Hybrids have to have the noise now too, as a regulation:
Obviously mine is from the good old days
Politics aside, I think manufacturing in China can be really high quality. If MINI is managing the production I wouldn't expect there to be quality issues, it's Chinese-run companies that you have to look at carefully. Keep in mind Apple's iPhones are built in China.
