The upcoming Aceman will sit as MINI’s small, all-electric SUV
MINI is expanding its range with the introduction of the new Aceman crossover EV. Scheduled to go on sale in 2024, the Aceman will sit between the five-door MINI hatchback and Countryman SUV, providing competition to the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric and Jeep Avenger EV.
Thanks to a series of spy pictures of the Aceman test car, we can show exclusive images of what the finished crossover model should look like – and it's clear that it will carry over plenty of inspiration from the original concept version.
Up front it’ll use more angular headlights than traditionally seen on MINIs and the blanked-off grille will be larger than the one on the MINI Electric. Just like on other MINIs we’ll see a lower window line wrap around the car combined with the classic two-tone roofline.
The Aceman will be distinguished from the brand’s upcoming Golf-sized hatchback thanks to a higher ride height and chunky plastic cladding around the wheel arches. Both cars should receive MINI’s Union Jack rear light motif.
Speaking to Auto Express, MINI boss Stefanie Wurst revealed the new Aceman crossover will be a “gamified concept” and that “the go-kart feeling will always be of the utmost importance.”
The Aceman will be built in China alongside the three-door all-electric Cooper model. There will not be a five-door all-electric Cooper, with the Aceman effectively taking care of five-door ‘small MINI’ electric-car duties.
However, with the wheels pushed out to the far corners of the bodywork, the Aceman should offer excellent interior space, while leaving room for the next-generation Countryman to move further up in size.
With the next-generation Countryman growing in size to around 4.5 metres long, Auto Express understands that the Aceman will have similar dimensions to the original MINI Countryman, measuring a little over four metres long.
Rumours suggest that there may be two battery sizes and two power outputs available for the Aceman: an entry-level car with a 40kWh battery, around 180bhp and a range of up to 200 miles, and a bigger 50kWh battery with a more powerful motor producing about 215bhp and a range of around 250 miles.
We’ve caught the Aceman testing previously and from our spy shots we can see the look of the crossover EV will be toned down slightly from the concept model shown earlier this year. However, we can already see plenty of stylistic elements taken from the concept and from MINI’s established design language.
The production Aceman will use a similar shape of headlight to the concept, but don’t be fooled by the chrome rings around the lights here – we expect a dark surround instead. Just like the concept, there’s a blanked off upper grille with a second grille opening below.
The windscreen looks much more steeply angled than on the current MINI Hatch and the Countryman, possibly because the Aceman will only be offered with EV-power, making aerodynamic efficiency even more crucial. The wheel arches from the concept have been scaled down for the production model.
At the rear we can see the rear light units extending on to the tailgate, but this is just the camouflage at work. The actual rear lights will be much smaller. Elsewhere around the back end, the Aceman looks fairly conventional – the rear bumper has a rather plain design and there’s only a small roof spoiler.
Technical specifications for the Aceman have not been detailed, except for the car’s use of MINI’s new all-electric platform that will appear on the next MINI Hatch coming in 2023. That means that the Aceman will be built in China.
MINI Aceman concept car
We’ve previously spoken to Oliver Heilmer, Head of MINI Design, who talked us through the Aceman concept. According to Heilmer the production car is 80 per cent complete.
“Since this is the new family member, it was clear for us that this will have a modern approach, it will break out of typical form language.”
Although similar in length to the soon to be discontinued MINI Hatch five-door, the Aceman concept is wider and taller, with a more SUV-inspired shape. A two-box profile with the wheels pushed right to the very extremes of the car’s body means the car’s overhangs are short, also making the most of space inside, and it’s onto this chunky silhouette that the new design language, called ‘Charismatic Simplicity,’ is projected.
The front end of the car is where the Aceman diverts most significantly from current MINI design language, with a new face that’s designed entirely for the brand’s electric era. Most significantly, the headlights aren’t round, but Heilmer says that in many ways the new front is “more classic” than the brand’s current look, given the new octagonal frame grille element that’s illuminated in turquoise.
The red vertical elements emphasise the height of the car, but they’re also home to a pair of external speakers – one of many concept car touches sprinkled throughout the Aceman. Another set is found in the rear valance.
The speakers give an audio welcome for the driver as they approach the car, but they’re also to draw attention to the new generation of sound design being created for the next-generation electric MINI models. “We are making every sound new. The driving sound, indicator, whatever, everything is composed specifically for the new MINI family,” Heilmer told us. “Even from its sound it will be recognisable as one of the new MINIs.”
Prominent and upright wheel arches create a tough look for the compact SUV, housing 20-inch wheels. A large roof rack is another nod to the car’s positioning as the brand’s new baby SUV, and it’s also home to a trademark MINI touch, with the brackets forming a Union flag-like motif.
At the rear, a clean look has been applied with little clutter, the compact tailgate sitting flush with the rear bumper wearing a MINI badge and Aceman lettering. “A MINI should have a good stance, that’s important,” says Heilmer, before teasing that a new level of customisation is in the offing for MINI buyers, a group traditionally keen on personalisation.
“The customer might be able to choose between two or three different signatures,” he said, suggesting that those who don’t want the Union-flag inspired tail-light design will be able to choose something else.
The use of colour is a massive part of MINI’s concept and newcomer model that will follow it. The Aceman’s pearlescent blue paint is combined with a British Racing Green roof, the car’s speaker elements are highlighted in red, and there’s also that turquoise frame and purple badging to take in. However, the car’s colour palette is even bolder inside the cabin.
As per MINI’s traditional approach, the use of space inside the Aceman concept is clever, maximising interior space so that the small car feels quite big inside from our early look around the car. There’s no leather or chrome inside, with various textile surfaces and iridescent metals used to create an eyecatching environment.
Alongside the unusual seat upholstery, the concept’s steering wheel is trimmed in green velvet velour. But alongside the fun, modern feel there’s a huge nod to the original Mini in the shape of the dashboard architecture and infotainment system.
“Due to digitalisation we are able to achieve it again,” says Heilmer. The Aceman features a single, round OLED infotainment screen in the centre of the dashboard, and in the concept it’s near-production-spec hardware.
Beneath it sits a small bank of switches, where the parking brake, gear selector, drive modes and volume control buttons are located, plus a power toggle interpreted as a modern-day take on the original’s turnkey. Placing these here frees up space for an adaptable centre console that runs from the car’s front area to the rear.
Another concept car touch is the inclusion of three “experience modes”, setting the theme for the infotainment unit and the dashboard as a whole. Toggling one of the modes reveals that the infotainment sprawls beyond the main screen, projecting across the entire dashboard.
The navigation can take up the whole surface, and a ‘charging game’ has been devised with projection technology. The goal is to successfully spell ‘Aceman’ across the dashboard using floating bubble letters, flung out of the screen and across the fascia with a swipe of the finger.
The production version of the Aceman is expected to break cover towards the end of 2023, before going on sale in 2024.
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Keyword: 2024 MINI Aceman: new details on EV crossover revealed