The 2011 Rocketman was rumored to morph into a production vehicle that would’ve been more faithful to the MINI name. As you may recall, the concept was engineered to accommodate three-cylinder combustion engines. However, subsequent reports about a road-going vehicle speculated the entry-level model would be an EV. It ultimately didn’t happen, but the idea of a true MINI hasn’t been completely abandoned.

Speaking with Australian magazine CarSales, MINI’s Head of Interior Design admitted he likes the idea of a tiny car. However, Sebastian Kroes said the current technology limits the company since the engineers can’t make an EV more compact than the Cooper 3-Door (J01). The existing electric hatchback is already the smallest it can be.

The Cooper E’s 36.8-kWh battery and the Cooper SE’s larger 49.8-kWh pack take up a lot of space inside the floor. Putting a smaller battery would hamper range even further than Cooper E’s 305 kilometers (190 miles) on the WLTP cycle. It’s not feasible for now, but Kroes hopes new developments will eliminate these technical hurdles.

“Making cars electric normally means they grow so, right now, that’s quite the limit of what we were able to achieve. But maybe future technologies will help us to go even more effective, more in that direction of shrinking it even more.”

Kroes told CarSales he’s a big fan of the original MINI that was launched in 1959 and remained on sale until 2000. The first model in the BMW era was much bigger, and subsequent generations have put on more fat. With safety regulations getting stricter, it’s tricky for engineers to keep cars small and lightweight.

With BMW’s Neue Klasse know-how, perhaps there is hope we’ll see a bite-size MINI one day. The sixth-generation battery tech with round cells will deliver more than 20% better energy density. That means you can extract more juice from a smaller battery, which increases the odds of a Rocketman revival. However, for the time being, it’s just wishful thinking on our part. That said, we’re glad the Oxford-based brand hasn’t closed the door on a true MINI.

Source: CarSales