During the launch of the next generation hatchback, the company’s chairman told Top Gear that the manual gearbox would be phased out of the current generation of Mini Coopers. The new Cooper car will come with electric and gas-powered engines, but the gas-powered ones will likely only have automatic transmissions. The last Coopers with manual transmissions will be made in February of the following year. Manual transmission cars are on the edge of going extinct. After Volkswagen said last week that the stick-shift Golf GTI with the GTI 380 special package would no longer be made, the manual transmission seems out of the Mini lineup. The British automaker just released a new generation of the Cooper hatchback, but Top Gear thinks that the DIY gearbox will be offered for something other than the new model. Stefanie Wurst, the CEO of Mini, told Top Gear, “We won’t have a manual, unfortunately.” The next-generation Mini ICE hardtop and convertible are unlikely to come with a manual transmission at launch. However, a Mini representative left the door open for a future addition to the range. This means the stick-shift gearbox could become available if enough people want it, but we don’t think that will happen. For the 2023 model year, Mini returned the manual transmission choice for the Cooper hatchback. It had been taken away in May 2022 because of problems with the supply chain. The two-door Hardtop Cooper, Cooper S, and John Cooper Works all came with a six-speed manual gear. There will be gas and electric versions of the Mini Cooper 2025, but Mini has only discussed the electric form so far. The gas cars should be powered by engines that have been used before. In the last Cooper, a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine with 134 horsepower or a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 189 horsepower was paired with an eight-speed automatic gear. Mini says the last Coopers with a manual transmission from the current model will leave the factory in February 2024.
