The next electric MINI could be a bike

MINI has been busy reinventing itself over the past few months with the unveiling and launch of three new models: the Cooper hatch, the Countryman SUV and now the all-electric Aceman, unveiled at the recent Beijing Motor Show in China.

With the family complete – and electric versions of all of them on the way – what’s next for MINI? Could an electric bike be on the cards?

MINI boss Stefanie Wurst recently posted on LinkedIn saying how much she enjoyed a day riding a BMW CE 02 electric bike. “I swapped four wheels for two and jumped on the fully electric new BMW Motorrad CE 02 for a thrilling test ride,” she said. “You can tell by the smile on my face how much I loved it!”

So when Auto Express caught up with Stefanie at the launch of the Aceman in Beijing, we asked her about the chances of an electric motorbike in MINI’s future.  “We have them in our family with BMW Motorrad,” Wurst told us. “And they're offering electric versions as well.

“I think this is interesting because it's urban mobility – BMW is producing so much when it comes to mobility. If we were to do something I would look into the family first and I think this is something I find interesting. If I have interest in our markets, this is something I would consider.”

If a MINI motorbike gets the go-ahead, it’ll be design boss Oliver Heilmer and his team who would have to give it the MINI treatment, so what’s his view on a MINI moped? Auto Express also spoke to him at the Beijing show.

“I actually gave the team the task, ‘Let's do some bikes just in order to understand whether it works’. We tried little motorbikes as far as we can,” said Heilmer. “It's not our expertise and they're doing something where they say, ‘does this work?’ And they say, ‘I don't know. It looks good.’ So you can create something that looks like a MINI.”

While MINI would give any future bike concepts their own look – with round headlights instead of square ones, for example – the technical make-up is likely to mirror models like BMW’s CE 02. The all-electric CE 02 gets up to 15bhp, and is an alternative to a 125cc petrol-powered motorbike.

The BMW will accelerate from 0-31mph (0-50km/h) in three seconds, with a top speed of almost 60mph. A lower-powered model is also available, which can be ridden on an A1 motorcycle licence – this version is limited to 5bhp and doesn’t quite crack 28mph flat out. Range stands at around 60 miles, and the batteries can be replenished from 20 to 80 per cent in under two hours.

Priced from £7,450, we’d expect any future MINI alternative to undercut its BMW brother – possibly by as much as a couple of thousand pounds.

Would you like to see a MINI motorbike? Tell us in the comments section below...