Silent Speedster

India's first electric hot hatch is here. Is it a proper Mini Cooper?

- PARTH CHARAN

UPON FIRST glance, everything about the new Mini Cooper SE feels relatively familiar. It's got the same silhouette as a standard Mini Cooper, the same circle-infested neon interiors and gear stick. If it wasn't for the fluorescent highlights running across the grille and covering the door mirrors, I would never suspect this of being anything other than yet another upgrade to that crackling hellion from BMW.

Except when you fire up this Mini you aren't greeted with the same rorty burble of a forced-induction four-pot petrol engine. You're greeted with the sort of silence that heralds an all-new era for cars. The Mini Cooper SE, colloquially known as the Mini Electric, isn't the first EV in the country. On paper it isn't even the most powerful EV. Which means it's got to work extra hard at standing out in a space where tech and performance feel increasingly homogenized. Can the famously swift-footed Mini retain its trademark handling and charm with an electric power train?

What sort of numbers does it put out?