MINI Cooper set for ‘larger’ mid-life facelift as small car competition hots up

The entire MINI product range will undergo an extensive mid-life update over the next 12 to 18 months, with significant styling tweaks, tech upgrades and extra customisation options all in the plan. The changes will aim to inject life into the maker’s otherwise established line-up, in lieu of any brand-new models due before 2029.

Speaking with Auto Express, MINI’s head of design, Holger Hampf, told us the forthcoming lifecycle update is “very important to [MINI]” and that “it is coming very soon”. Hampf will use this as an opportunity to make changes that reflect customer feedback, touching on all aspects of design and tech – with Hampf leaning on his previous experience as head of user experience for the BMW Group.

“You have a product portfolio, you learn from customer feedback and there are things you want to change,” the design boss told us. “So the lifecycle update is a larger update, it touches all cars; we’ll do some good things with it. This is not only [styling], it’s the user interface, and has to do with how people interact with their car.

While many brands are shying away from customisation in favour of bundled option packs and simplified specifications, MINI will double down on customer choice. Hampf emphasised how the brand is “all about customisation, individualisation”, reiterating that “people like to express themselves, or extend their personality through a MINI. 

“I think in the context of [MINI’s] portfolio it is important that we offer more configuration possibilities to our customers,” Hampf told us. “Maybe we were guided for a short moment to say, OK, we want to sell a car online in five minutes, and we offer silver, black, and white, and that's it. But we learned that this is not MINI, so we’ve got to come back to this kind of fun of configuring a car because that's what MINI always was about.”

The company will begin rolling out its so-called LCI (Life-Cycle Impulse) cars next year, starting with the three and five-door hatchbacks, followed by the Countryman – all of which are currently available to lease through Auto Express’s Buy a Car service. The Aceman is the newest model in MINI’s portfolio, with updates not expected until 2028 at the earliest.

Following this, Hampf told us, MINI is “thinking already about the next generation” and that his team has “started that work” to determine what follows the Cooper, Countryman and Aceman. A project looking at the feasibility of a smaller, Rocketman-inspired city car is apparently in the works, though any such car would apparently need to stick close to MINI’s values by offering big-car tech in a compact, 3.6-metre package.

In the meantime, MINI will continue to offer special models, with Hampf admitting he’s “working on some cool stuff” to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the modern MINI. He told us the maker will “continue this to use the cars [MINI has], and maybe show people different characters and expressions you can do with them. There's really a lot of potential,” he said.

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