Buyers in the market for a nimble-handling hot hatch could do a lot worse than a Mini Cooper S. Even better is the John Cooper Works version. But the ultimate in performance Minis is the John Cooper Works GP. And the Anglo-Saxon automaker apparently has every intention of bringing it back.
Historically an end-of-the-line model, Mini introduced the first JCW GP in 2006 (before the second-gen R56 arrived), and the second in 2012 (ahead of the current third-gen F55 launched in 2014).
Both featured stripped-out cockpits with no back seats as well as upgraded engines, brakes, suspension and other go-fast bits to make them the hardest-core iterations of their donor models.
“The John Cooper Works GP is an important part of the Mini brand,” Mini chief Peter Schwarzenbauer told Autocar. “It has worked well for us in the past and I don’t see why it wouldn’t again in the future.”
Given the usual timeframe, it may be several years before the new GP arrives – at which point an all-new Mini will be looming (uncharacteristically) large on the horizon. Autocar figures that won’t happen until 2020, at the earliest.
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