RE: PH Meets: Swindon Powertrain

[B10]

Greta showcase.
Great interior which has NOT been done in wood and naff 'Vintage' Cooper appendages.
Particularly pleased that they have left the ashtray.

[NJJ]

David Brown Automotive should pay for the tech to use it in its Mini Remastered version. The engine is the weakest point of that car currently.

[anonymous-user]

On street charging close to any pubs is going to be bloody hilarious!

[wab172uk]

T-195 said:

Great.

£80k to pay someone to ruin a Mini.

What happens when the batteries fail?

At least it's a relatively light car to push.

[Raph C]

Very proud to see our company on top of PH news!

Let me try to answer your questions and add some explanations:

Hugh Jarse said:

Low volume handmade stuff costs, I agree its not silly money for what is something quite amazing.

That's it. If an EV from an OEM (don't forget the government incentive) is currently 40% more expensive than its ICE powered equivalent, then once you restore, hand manufacture, bespoke a lot of the technology, the cost is high. We would love it to be lower, which would obviously increase its market, but for now, it will remain exclusive.

moorejam said:

Why leave the ashtray? It could be a great spot for a phone to be hands-free with a charge point.
Looks fab though.

We left the ashtray because it is a Classic Mini It has two USB charging point as standard and you can spec it with an Apple Carplay / Android Auto unit.

T-195 said:

Great.
What happens when the batteries fail?

We use the same battery cells as some OEMs, packaged into our own battery pack. There are less reasons for a battery to fail than an A series piston Seriously, our turn key E Classics come with an unlimited mileage warranty and we offer a maintenance and repair service with vehicle pick-up and delivery to the owner's home.

martin12345 said:

I work for one of those OEM's on projects that Swindon can't talk about
Nice bunch of people who do good quality work for a fair price
I think Swindon will find a small number of customers for this Mini with "car nuts" who live in London for whom £80k is "loose change" - likely will be a 6th, 7th or even 10th car and loved for occasional use in London avoiding the Emissions hassle, each to drive, easy to park etc etc
The pricing is no doubt targetted to make a profit on 10's of sales, not hundred's or thousand's as they will know the market is small.
I am sure they know what they are doing as they do in everything else they do

An excellent market analysis as well as some kind feedback there Martin, thank you. I don't know who you are in relations to our OEMs customers since there are many Martins out there, however, I will pass your comments onto our team of Engineers and Technicians. They will be proud.

nicholasm said:

Good write-up, Dafydd - I don't suppose Swindon Powertrain would be up for hosting a Sunday Service, would they?

Indeed, thank you Dafydd. Re. Sunday Service, we can discuss...

All the best.

Raph.
MD, Swindon Powertrain.

[MawsleyCarValeting]

Hi all. I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of detailing work for Raph and Swindon with our connection with the BTCC, and what a privilege it’s been. This is a very exciting project for them and it’s been great to be part of it even if I only cleaned the car. Lol. I’ve driven the Mini and all I can say is WOW!!!! Oh yes and come on Raph a Sunday service meet up would be great. See you at Brands.

[ivantate]

Great pictures and an interesting car. Cant afford it but can see a lot of work that has gone into that one.
Could be the re-invention the classic Mini needs to keep interest in the platform.


Interesting to see if there is a market for kits to put into existing ones.

[big_rob_sydney]

C.A.R. said:

big_rob_sydney said:

80k for a toaster on wheels!

WTF has the world come to...

Again I don't think you've really read the article.

It's effectively a one-off. If you commissioned one to be engineered and built by a specialist, the cost would be similar. You're paying for hours and hours of development and design; it's not like K-swapping a Lotus Elise where you just make it fit and line all the oily bits up!

If you commissioned another 10, 20+ for production now that the product has been realised, I'd expect the costs to be rather less...

Again I don't think you've really read the comments. Almost every second comment saying the same thing about the price.

I don't give a crap about where it's built or how many; bottom line is what it costs. If you live in a fantasy land with magic money trees, good luck to you.

[fred bloggs]

Im interested in how this is registered, as its been 'significantly modified'.
Itll be fun calling up the insurance too.

[fred bloggs]

moorejam said:

Do you still die if you have a front end collision over 30mph?

At least when minis were abundant, the road was not full of SUV's. Cant imagine the outcome of a suv hitting the side of a mini.

[cheddar]

85Carrera said:

Also saw these which could tempt me as a city car -

https://electricfiat500.com

Mmmmm, £25k, seems like a bargain given the £££££'s for the Mini

[Cuthbertson]

Lovely looking Mini - it’ll still rust badly like an original though ?

[blueacid]

I remember years ago a friend had a John Cooper Mini 1.3 (I think? It had a brass plaque in it saying it was one of a limited number).

It was so much fun to be a passenger in. Handled well, and you just ended up with a stupid daft grin on your face no matter how hard you tried not to smile.

I can imagine one of those with instant torque and a lower centre of gravity would be a riot; I can definitely see the logic in this. Obviously £80k is a lot of money, but I'd say go for it!

To the makers - if you would be willing to give Robert Llewellyn a shout I'm sure he'd love to do a video on it for his Fully Charged youtube channel. He's already covered an EV-converted Range Rover Classic, so a drive in this mini would definitely be good to watch...!

[DonkeyApple]

big_rob_sydney said:

Again I don't think you've really read the comments. Almost every second comment saying the same thing about the price.

I don't give a crap about where it's built or how many; bottom line is what it costs. If you live in a fantasy land with magic money trees, good luck to you.

The only fantasy land here is your one where you clearly expect a return to slave labour, zero medical care and living in pigsheds so that your non essential toys can be cheaper.

It continually amazes me just how many PHers are so desperately out of touch with regards to how the simplest of commercial activities work or how invaluable and proud we should be in the UK at the high standard of living for the lowest workers.

You only need the slightest bit of intelligent thought to begin to comprehend the hours, parts, utilities, intellect, administration and land used to create such a product even before appreciating the concept of profit and taxes. Just a moment’s engaging of brain would in fact have anyone thinking that it’s pretty impressive to be able to get something like this out the door at such a low price.

But if you want a small EV that is built by labour that lives in the gutter, dies of basic disease and subsists on a bowl of rice a day all so that you can afford it or it doesn’t offend you then you Sir are the ideal customer for a GWiz.

Feel free to point out the insanity of £5 mass produced, slave labour goods being sold for £500 but don’t be so stupid as to confuse 50p sthouse, third world jeans being sold to rubber faced, debt laden Western consumer idiots for £500 with high cost, near bespoke, quality goods manufactured domestically without exploiting third world labour pools, taxes and land values and obviously not carrying 100%-10,000% consumer markup. It just makes it appear as if you are actually uneducated or a bit dim.

[cheddar]

DonkeyApple said:

It continually amazes me just how many PHers are so desperately out of touch with regards to how the simplest of commercial activities work or how invaluable and proud we should be in the UK at the high standard of living for the lowest workers.

You only need the slightest bit of intelligent thought to begin to comprehend the hours, parts, utilities, intellect, administration and land used to create such a product

Normally I'd agree but this is still an EIGHTY THOUSAND POUND Mini.

The Fiat 500 EV equivalent quoted above is £25k and I assume they still make a profit.

[T-195]

DonkeyApple said:

You only need the slightest bit of intelligent thought to begin to wonder who the fk is going to spend 80 Grand on an Electric Mini

FTFY.

[DonkeyApple]

T-195 said:

DonkeyApple said:

You only need the slightest bit of intelligent thought to begin to wonder who the fk is going to spend 80 Grand on an Electric Mini

FTFY.

A handful of people for whom £80k is an irrelevant sum and fancy a silly toy to nip around London in. I suspect few will be bought by people who don’t have £80k to throw at a silly toy and have no use for it?

It’s a bit of fun.

[DonkeyApple]

cheddar said:

DonkeyApple said:

It continually amazes me just how many PHers are so desperately out of touch with regards to how the simplest of commercial activities work or how invaluable and proud we should be in the UK at the high standard of living for the lowest workers.

You only need the slightest bit of intelligent thought to begin to comprehend the hours, parts, utilities, intellect, administration and land used to create such a product

Normally I'd agree but this is still an EIGHTY THOUSAND POUND Mini.

The Fiat 500 EV equivalent quoted above is £25k and I assume they still make a profit.

Smaller and cheaper motor, smaller and cheaper battery pack, left hand drive, cheaper car to source as They don’t rust so quickly in Italy and we don’t know the engineering differences, the restoration differences etc. And no idea re development grants.

All we really know is the 25000 is a smaller number than 80000. Whether it’s ‘cheaper’ requires us to know a lot more about both products.

What’s interesting about the Welsh company is that they are aiming to sell kits.

[CoupeKid]

Are Swindon Powertrain anything to do with Swindon Racing Engines, who were renowned for their expertise on the DFV?