Electric Mini Cooper SE tows a Boeing 777F

A FULLY electrically powered Mini Cooper SE has been spotted towing a Boeing 777F freight aircraft at Germany’s Frankfurt airport. True, the plane was not carrying any cargo. Still, it weighs some 150 tons.

The scene was shot during a recent “testing program” for the first full-electric Mini. The video will be used in a 45-second commercial, created by the BMW Group and Lufthansa Cargo, in which a Cooper SE is portrayed as a “muscle car” capable of pulling a huge plane across an airfield. Mini said the clip marks the start of a social media campaign and will be published in the lead up to the model’s market introduction.

The car appearing in the video, according to the company, is a “close-to-series prototype” of the upcoming model and demonstrates what “electromobility in the style of Mini is capable of setting in motion.”

Mini said the Cooper SE will go into serial production at the company’s plant in Oxford beginning November. It is based on the Mini 3 door and promises to combine emissions-free driving with the brand’s trademark go-kart feel. The car is the second full-electric model, after the BMW i3, in the company’s premium automobile portfolio.

Mini explained the tie-up with Lufthansa is part of the BMW Group’s collaboration with the carrier. The company said that in September 2018 a long-haul transport Lufthansa aircraft provided the setting for the BMW Vision iNEXT World Flight during which the BMW Group presented in succession its latest concept vehicle in Munich, New York, San Francisco and Beijing.

The serial production iNEXT will be produced at the BMW Group plant in Dingolfing beginning 2021, Mini said.