JCW To Become More Of A Sub-brand

The Detroit Bureau drove the Countryman All4 JCW in Austria, and reviews the vehicle.  A few days later they had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Kay Segler who will take over the top spot at MINI in April and Segler intimated that JCW will likely become a sub-brand of MINI:

He noted that the John Cooper Works variants will become more of a sub-brand, going forward, though not exactly the equivalent of BMW’s vaunted M.

“Not every model, but selected ones will be offered as a JCW model,” explained Segler. “Contrary to the BMW M models, they are not especially developed, and therefore will not be as strong technically. But The JCWs will get the suspension, engine tuning and JCW body and trim details.”


He said that Mini is constantly looking for higher sales and building the JCW sub-brand is one of the measures. “But JCW-models will not be offered everywhere. For instance in India, homologation will cost around $30,000, so there is no business case for bringing it to the market there.”