# Mini John Cooper Works Concept, First Impressions



## [email protected] (Aug 15, 2012)

Mini was well represented at the NAIAS in Detroit. Their main attention grabber was the unveiling of their sleek new John Cooper Works Concept.

It was definitely hard to miss this red roofed, gleaming sliver machine, sitting center stage in the Mini area. The new body styling of the Mini looks fresh, but the John Cooper Works Concept takes it a bit further, with a more sporty look. At the front, a blacked out hexagonal grill cuts into an aggressive front apron, that houses a protruding trio of air inlets in the middle, flanked by larger air intakes where fog lamps would usually be. The rear bumper also gets some special treatment, with large air outlets on either side and a blacked out rear diffuser, that surrounds a pretty trick looking, carbon tipped JCW exhaust. Nice! The Bright Highways Grey lower body combined with the Chili Red roof and contrasting racing stripes, really set off the JCW Concept's bold look. The hand-polished surface finish is stunning in person. A set of interesting 18" light alloy wheels bring everything together to round out the look.





There hasn't been much technical information given about the JCW Concept. Aside from the styling, a few dimensional specs were released. The new Mini has grown a little. It is now a little longer, noticeable ahead of the front axle, and just a hair taller. To help with handling, the track has been widened and the wheelbase makes a small stretch to match, no doubt helping the Mini retain its go-kart handling. I can only speculate as to what the powerplant will be, but a JCW tuned version of the 2.0 liter TwinPower turbo 4 Cylinder sounds like a winner. Power output would hopefully be north of the previous generation JCW's 207 hp.



Even though we did only get to feast our eyes on the JCW Concept's exterior at the show, it did aim to please. If it's a solid indicator on what the rest of the JCW package will be like, I can't wait to hop in and take it for a ride.

What do you think of JCW Concept?

Take a walk around the Mini JCW Concept:

http://youtu.be/LDnXF_n5WZI

_*Check out more Mini pics from Detroit here!*_


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