MINI Cooper C and Cooper S arrive as petrol-powered MINIs to join the new Electric MINI

The MINI Cooper C and MINI Cooper S arrive as the petrol-powered versions of the new MINI Cooper, joining the MINI Electric.

The new MINI Electric arrived last year as MINI introduced the latest generation of the MINI, and now it’s time for a new petrol-powered MINI Cooper to take centre stage and ensure MINI actually manages to make money.

Despite riding on a completely different platform to the EV-specific Platform of the MINI EV – essentially a reworked version of the outgoing model’s underpinnings – MINI has managed to make the new ICE MINI look almost exactly the same as the EV, albeit without the closed-off grille the EV model sports.

Petrol engine options for the Cooper are a 1.5-litre three-pot in the Cooper C producing 154bhp and a 2.0-litre four-pot in the Cooper S good for 201bhp, both coming with and auto ‘box. So no manual option for MINI anymore.

Inside is again almost identical to the Electric MINI, with a big circular OLED infotainment dominating, gear selector below the screen, with actual buttons fro screen demisters but not for volume or climate.

Trim options for the ICE MINIs are Classic, Exclusive and Sport, with prices starting at £22,300 for the Cooper C and £26,700 for the Cooper S, making the ICE Cooper C almost £10k cheaper than the equivalent MINI EV.