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Mini announced Tuesday that its John Cooper Works GP concept from 2017 will enter series production in 2020.
The JCW GP concept took the form of a fully-caged track car with a supercar-worthy splitter and rear wing, fender flares large enough to hide livestock in them, and a Galactic Empire-esque paint scheme. It took inspiration from both the 2012 Mini JCW GP and 2006 Mini Cooper S JCW GP kit, both of which were limited to 2,000 examples built.
Presumably, then, the 2020 JCW will too be limited to 2,000 units. We can imagine all of them selling out in an instant if the production car bears much resemblance to the concept, never mind performance, which hopefully isn’t something that a car called the JCW GP would shortchange you. The 2012 model was a front-wheel-drive shoebox with 211 horsepower and 207 pound-feet of torque, which are more than respectable in an approximately 2,723-pound car.
It is not yet known whether the 2020 JCW GP will retain the FWD layout of its predecessor or adopt an all-wheel-drive system similar to that used on the Countryman. With a healthy amount more horsepower than the 2012 JCW GP—taking into account the 2018 Cooper S’ 189 horsepower—and AWD, a hatch this exotic should have next to no predators on the market.
The only significant competitor on racetracks that the 2020 JCW GP will face may be the Honda Civic Type R TCR, which is literally a race car and nothing else. Considering it won’t be street-legal (the JCW GP almost assuredly will), the comparison may be unfair, but if the JCW GP packs a drivetrain comparable to that of the BMW X2 M35i, it’ll be a level playing field.
