The New Mini John Cooper Works GP Will Have A Fiesta ST-Crushing 300bhp

If you’re excited by the all-new Mini John Cooper Works GP, we have some good and bad news for you. The bad news is it won’t be launched in production form until 2020, despite a concept version appearing back in 2017. But here’s the good news: it should be worth the wait, as it’ll be enormously powerful.

The last GP wasn’t significantly more powerful than the standard JCW, but for the next one, the BMW-owned brand is pushing the boat out. Today, it’s been confirmed that it’ll develop 296bhp from a 2.0-litre twin-scroll turbocharged inline-four.

Enough power to make the Ford Fiesta ST look rather limp, in other words, and that’s before we get to the rest of the spec. Nothing has been explicitly confirmed yet, but we’re expecting more serious dampers, various angry aero pieces (we can see some of them in these teaser images) and a slight drop in weight.

It will inevitably be much more expensive than the ST, however, and pricier than many hot hatches from the next segment up. The last one was nearly £29,000, so it’s safe to assume the 2020 model will be comfortably over £30,000. It’ll also only be sold in limited numbers.

Regardless, we can’t wait to see it in full.