The next Mini Cooper will offer multiple EV variants

A redesigned Mini hardtop will be unveiled later this year, and a prototype is currently undergoing cold-weather testing near the Arctic Circle.

Top Gear reports that Mini will finally discontinue the hardtop name it currently uses for its two-door and four-door hatch models and revert to the Cooper name. Currently Cooper is just a grade.

Mini has confirmed that it will offer gas and electric drive options, and will now add several electric drive models. And while the electric models will use a different platform than the gas-powered vehicles, both should feature nearly identical styling.

According to Top Gear, the base electric grade will be the Cooper E with a 40kwh battery and 181 hp. The grade above that will reportedly be the Cooper SE with a 54 kwh battery and 215 hp.

The current Cooper SE hardtop has a 32.6 kwh battery and an EPA-rated range of only 110 miles. This small performance is partly due to the fact that it rides on a platform originally designed for gas engines.

Interestingly, an electric version of the John Cooper Works will also be available, Mini revealed in 2020.

Mini will launch the new Cooper as an electric car; production of the electric model will take place in China as part of an agreement signed with Great Wall Motors in 2018. Production of gas versions will remain in Oxford, UK, Mini's current home base,

and this year Mini plans to launch a redesigned Countryman, which will also offer a choice of gas or electric drive. The new Countryman, which will be the first Mini to be built in Germany, will be slightly larger in size to make room in Mini's lineup for a smaller, fully electric crossover that will likely go by the name Aceman.