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2025 Mini Cooper SE spy photos give us our best look yet

We've seen 2025 Mini Cooper Hardtops under heavy camouflage for a couple of years now, and even got a look at an undisguised one. But a spy photographer came across an uncovered example at a photo shoot in Los Angeles, and it's our best look at the little hatchback. This particular one is the Mini Cooper SE, which will be among the first of the new generation since it's electric. Like the current SE, it has a lime-green "S" badge. It seems like one of the few obvious cues that it's the sporty electric model, since the hood scoop has vanished. It retains a version of the extra large front grille surround of the current cars. The whole shape of the car, including the wraparound glass and contrasting roof, are very obviously Mini. There are interesting detail changes along the sides. The door handles are flush-fit like new BMWs. And the contrasting black plastic fender flares are gone, a trademark cue of Minis since their reintroduction to the U.S. in the early 2000s. There isn't even a nod to a front fender vent or badge, either. It's been simplified significantly. The tail also has big changes. The rear hatch encompasses the rear taillights. Those lights are triangular and still feature a Union Jack motif, but it's a little more obscured. A band with the model name joins the two across the hatch. This new Mini is expected to launch in May of next year. A base version with 181 horsepower and the SE with 215 horsepower are reportedly on the way, along with two battery packs with either 40 or 54 kWh. And there will be gas-powered versions, but they'll arrive a little later. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mini Cooper SE Convertible wheels made entirely from recycled aluminum

Mini has revealed an interesting fact about its limited-run Mini Cooper SE Convertible: It's the first production car with wheels made from 100% recycled aluminum. Despite sharing the same look as wheels available on the regular SE hatch, they're actually much more environmentally friendly. The wheels were developed with Swiss wheel manufacturer Ronal. The company sells aftermarket wheels under the Ronal and Speedline brands, and it supplies OEMs. And it's no stranger to more environmentally-friendly wheel production. It supplies wheels for the Audi E-Tron GT that are made using a smelting process that produces oxygen rather than carbon dioxide, and it now has a line of claimed carbon-neutral aftermarket wheels. But back to the Mini's wheels. Using all recycled aluminum has the obvious benefit of not requiring new aluminum to be manufactured. But the benefits are greater than just the raw material use. Mini points out that a major improvement in carbon emissions comes from being able to skip the electrolysis process for new aluminum manufacturing. Pure aluminum is extracted from aluminum oxide (which is in turn taken from the mineral bauxite). To do this large amounts of electricity are passed through molten solutions of aluminum oxide and cryolite (which takes energy to heat) across graphite cathodes and annodes. Not only does this use a lot of electricity that has its own carbon costs, the oxygen that separates from the aluminum bonds to the graphite annodes, yielding more carbon dioxide (which is why the production of those Audi wheels is also interesting). In total, Mini says the recycled wheel production reduces carbon emissions by 75%. More specifically, it estimates about 0.16 kilograms (0.35 pounds) per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of aluminum used. Mini also stresses that this process still maintains all the strength of conventional wheels, just in a greener way. And of course, the wheels themselves are recyclable again. Mini, and BMW more broadly, are looking at ways to upscale the process and to source suitable recyclable products, likely other old wheels from cars no longer on the road. Though neither company said anything about when we'll see fully recycled wheels more widely available. Related Video: MINI Electric Pacesetter inside and out

Mini Traveller MPV caught on flatbed with five-door Mini and convertible

With the next-gen Mini Cooper hardtop set for its big debut next week at the LA Auto Show, we're getting a good look at what will be coming next for the BMW brand. Mini will follow up the introduction of the Mini Cooper with the new convertible model, but our spy shooters have proof that a plus-sized model (rumored to be called Traveller or Spacebox) is coming along quite well.
There still isn't much information about the Traveller (shown above), which will be longer and wider than the Countryman, but we can tell that it takes dimensional cues from both the Countryman and Clubman to maximize passenger and cargo space. The face of this new model will definitely be closer to the 2015 Cooper, and it will have a split rear door setup like the Clubman. Like the more recent Countryman and Paceman designs, though, the Traveller will have horizontally positioned taillights instead of the Cooper's vertical lights. We have no indication as to when we'll be seeing the Traveller in production form, but this prototype seems to be in the final stages of development.
As for the Cooper, we've already spied the hardtop completely uncovered, and just recently we spotted the sportier Cooper S Convertible being transported on a flatbed. The dual center-outlet exhaust is the key tell that model was the S, which likely means that the droptop spotted here the base model.