Mini has “almost finished” work on a range of significant facelifts that will kick off a new era for the brand under design chief Holger Hampf.
Hampf joined Mini from Designworks, BMW’s California-based design consultancy, in October 2024. But, given how new the Mini range is – the Cooper and Countryman having launched in 2023, followed by the Aceman a year later – he has yet to have an opportunity to make his mark.
In his first appearance with UK media, he told Autocar that “you will see my work in an upcoming LCI”; ‘Life Cycle Impulse’ being the BMW Group’s code for a major model update.
Hampf gave little away on how significant any changes would be but said they will be an “important milestone” for the brand, steered by “customer feedback from this generation”.
Given the line-up is still relatively fresh, it is likely that a restyled Cooper and Countryman will arrive late next year – four years after they first arrived – and a new Aceman in 2028.
Hampf added that brand collaborations such as the new Paul Smith edition of the Cooper and the previous Deus Ex Machina concept cars would become more important in keeping the line-up fresh, despite its limited breadth. “Short-term limited editions and collaborations will create some awareness and some appreciation for Mini,” he said. “It doesn’t always need to be an entirely new car; it’s a bit of storytelling and adapting the current products to lifestyles.”
To this end, Hampf hinted that Mini is working on an off-road-focused variant of one of its existing models. “We’ve witnessed the trend of the outdoor lifestyle and driving out of the city to spend some days in nature,” he said. “Can our car do this? Certainly, so expect something in that direction.”
This would most likely be based on the Countryman, given it is the only Mini currently available with four-wheel drive, and its raised ride height would lend itself naturally to such a “lifestyle” vehicle.
While Hampf's initial focus will be on facelifts, he did confirm that work has also begun on the next entirely new generation of Minis. These are expected to arrive in the early 2030s.
Hotter JCW models coming
John Cooper Works, Mini’s high-performance sub-brand, is expected to adopt more distinctive styling to further set its models apart from regular machines.
Hampf said there was “air to the top” of the JCW range and drew a parallel with the differentiation between BMW’s M and M Competition sports cars, suggesting that a more extreme take on the hot hatch is in the works.
This is, however, not expected to be a track-focused GP: “We’ve done something right in not only thinking of the GP, which we’ve done in the past,” he said.
Hampf pointed to the collaboration with Deus as “one experiment” with JCW’s evolution, with “bigger tyres and bigger spoilers”. It is possible that, given “such positive response” from the public, toned-down versions of the two concept cars – The Skeg and The Machina – are being primed for production.
