It may be wrenching on a crossover and toying with eco-friendly electric vehicles, but Mini hasn't forgotten about its die-hard, speed-crazed enthusiasts. The Mini Coupe Concept, which debuts at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, is aimed squarely at this demographic.
Mini refers to the Coupe Concept as an "uncompromisingly sporting two-seater," but we'd describe it as a John Cooper Works model wrapped in a stylish track suit. As was the case with the vintage Broadspeed GT, the Coupe Concept keeps most of the Mini's styling and mechanicals intact, but tops it all off with a rakish fastback roof.
From some angles, the new roof resembles that of the original Audi TT, but designers have cleverly incorporated Mini's trademark white roof and chunky pillars into the mix. Like the TT, the Coupe Concept is actually a hatchback, which opens to reveal a scant but usable 8.8 cubic feet of storage.
No changes have been made to the powertrain, but the Mini, especially in John Cooper Works form, is already a hot hatch. The Coupe Concept uses the same turbocharged 1.6-liter I-4 found in the JCW models, which produces 211 hp and 192 lb-ft of torque, and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission.
For the time being, Mini's being mum on the subject of production, but given the stock powertrain and the sheer quantity of parts carried over from existing models, we'd say it's quite likely to see the Coupe -- or possibly a roadster variant -- join the Mini portfolio in the near future.