Mini rehearses the snow waltz.
While spring is making its way in our latitudes, the next generation of the small car is storming across frozen lakes in Arjeplog, Sweden, on the Arctic Circle.
But it's not just the melody of one of the best-known folk songs that sounds in the engineers' ears.
Recently, the Beatles classic “With a little help from my friends” has also resonated.
The Bavarians with the British passport have found friends in China and are developing the successor to the small car, which is expected by the end of 2023, for the first time with Great Wall Motors.
While the combustion engines will continue to be based on BMW platforms, designed in Munich and built in Oxford, the electric version will have a Chinese base in the future, use batteries and drives from Great Wall and roll off the assembly line in Zhangjiagang.
So everything new?
Not quite, says Klaus Bramer.
He is a development engineer from Munich and with his ice dance in northern Sweden he is supposed to ensure that at least the driving fun stays as it is.
Of course, he doesn't need three sentences before he starts talking about the go-kart, with which they like to compare the Mini.
If you believe the driving dynamics expert or your own impressions from the passenger seat, this time it could work better than ever.
"The low center of gravity with the heavy battery in the floor, the immediately available high torque of the electric motors and the sensitive control, all of this benefits us when setting up an electric car," says Bramer.
Not only the driving experience should be typical
When it comes to design, the British don't want to make any distinctions between the old and the new world.
They wear the same hat over both platforms and will only differentiate the two cars through design details.
The Erlkönig made in China is still wearing his robe made of psychedelic foil, and the contours of the beady eyes are only glued on.
But camouflage and deception, the new one is clearly recognizable as a mini.
The proportions have become even tighter because the wheelbase has increased by a few millimeters, but the length will shrink by two finger widths for the first time.
Inside, too, the camouflage mats can hardly conceal those huge pancakes that are emblazoned in a circle in front of the center console and are supposed to become the central instrument again.
In terms of drive, Mini is breaking new ground.
Not the in-house Gen5 architecture, as known from BMW i5 or iX, carries the car.
The Mini stands on the Lemon platform on which Great Wall constructed the Ora Cat, for example, which could be seen at the IAA in Munich.
For the Mini, that means moderate progress.
The base model will be based on the current E version, which is still based on the blessed i3.
That means around 185 hp and 40 kWh for a range of 300 kilometers.
But while the Cooper E is demoted, the new Cooper SE has 225 hp and 50 kWh, with which around 400 kilometers should be possible.
And instead of the previous 150 km/h, the partners want to switch off the power to the new Mini much later.
Only at the charging station does it slowly continue: If the Ora Cat is the model, then there is no 100 kW charging capacity.
An electric convertible and one with a petrol engine, two other crossovers from China as well as a four-door and a new Countryman from Oxford are also expected.