The 204 hp all-electric Mini Cooper is finally coming to America, although only in a limited run. Limited as in, 500 cars. Yep, just 500 lucky customers spread out in 3 states (California, New York and New Jersey) will be able to lease this beautiful piece of engineering. BMW it’s only leasing to “select private and corporate customers”. So apparently, this is just a trial run for BMW where they’re trying to get a feel for how the car will do in the US market.

“Putting some 500 cars on the road under real daily traffic conditions will make it possible to gain widely applicable hands-on experience,” BMW says. “Evaluating these findings will generate valuable know-how, which will be factored into the engineering of mass-produced vehicles.”

I can see why they’re only leasing to select customers, the lease is pretty hefty: $850/month. And it’s only a two-seater, since the whole backseat is taken up by the battery-packs.

Some specs on the Mini-E:
It has a 204 horsepower electric motor that can produce 162 foot-pounds of torque right off the bat. Zero to 62 mph speed is 8.5 seconds, and top speed only 95 mph. The 573 pound battery-pack is made up of over 5,000 individual lithium-ion batteries in an air cooled pack. It gives the car a functional range of 150 miles.

Hopefully BMW will see fit to make this a proper production car. Check out some pics: