The Porsche strategy of creating as many variants as possible from a single model has worked well for the MINI brand, which will continue its proliferation by bringing diesel powerplants to the U.S. market and possibly turning the John Cooper Works trim into a sub-brand in the manner of BMW’s M division.
MINI fans in America haven’t been shy in terms of lobbying the brand for oil-burning powerplants. “We’re delighted to hear it,†MINI global brand manager Kay Segler told Car and Driver, adding “we are looking into this not for the short term, but for the medium term.†Translated from executive-speak, this means that a diesel-powered MINI is quite likely to make its way stateside when the third-generation car arrives in several years.
Segler also told C & D that he wants John Cooper Works to be for MINI what the M division is for BMW, suggesting that JCW could become a performance sub-brand. This development comes attended by good and bad news – for future JCW cars positioned to be positioned as stand-alone models rather than trim levels, they will likely need to be differentiated with more potent engines than are currently offered.
Unfortunately, Selger also said that AWD was currently too expensive to implement in MINIs without a large sales volume increase, raising the question of how much additional power the FWD drive cars can take without developing fun-robbing torque steer.
