One of the largest special edition MINI release is about to launch but what models are available, what options are there and what will it cost? We’ve created the first ever MINI Cooper Paul Smith Edition buyers guide to help you make sense of it all.

The partnership between MINI and Paul Smith has real roots, going back to 1998, when Smith reimagined a classic Mini in a bespoke shade of blue inspired by his menswear collections. Only 1,800 were produced, and they’ve become some of the most collectible classic Minis ever built. That history matters here, because it’s what separates this edition from a paint-and-sticker exercise. As we covered at MotoringFile, we first reported this collaboration was coming to production in May 2024, and what’s now confirmed is more expansive than past efforts, reaching across the entire current Cooper lineup in a way no previous Paul Smith project has.

The Paul Smith Edition is available for all MINI Cooper 3-door, 5-door, and Convertible models, with the exception of the John Cooper Works models, and it spans both electric and combustion engine variants, depending on market. That’s a proper production offering, not a one-run curiosity.

Here’s what to know before you configure one.

The Partnership in Context

Before getting into specs and pricing, it’s worth understanding what Smith actually brought to this car. His design language, which he calls “Classic with a Twist,” has always been about restraint punctuated by a small, deliberate jolt of personality. A navy suit with a flash of multicolor lining. A white shirt with a striped cuff. The formula is about knowing when not to shout.

The relationship resurfaced in 2021 with the MINI STRIP, a concept car that stripped the modern Cooper SE down to its bare essentials, built using recycled materials and left intentionally raw. Smith called it “a design exercise in reduction.” Then came the MINI Recharged in 2022, in which Smith converted his original 1998 Mini by installing an electric motor. Each project revealed how aligned these two brands actually are: both operating at the intersection of heritage and optimism.

The 2026 edition, which made its world premiere at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on October 29, 2025, is the first time that philosophy has been applied to the current F66/F65/F67 Cooper generation at scale.

The Models

The Paul Smith Edition is available across three body styles, each carrying the same design package with minor configuration differences.

MINI Cooper S 3-Door (F66) Paul Smith Edition. The purist’s choice. The Paul Smith Edition is based on the Cooper S, carrying the B48 four-cylinder turbocharged engine producing 201 horsepower and 300 Newton-meters of torque, paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch transaxle. It’s front-wheel drive, it’s the lightest body style in the range, and it’s the one that makes the most sense if go-kart handling is the priority. Fuel economy reaches 32 miles per gallon combined in the EPA test cycle, and 0-60 runs as quick as 6.3 seconds.

MINI Cooper S 5-Door (F65) Paul Smith Edition. The everyday case. Most of what makes the 3-door appealing is still here, with the same 201-horsepower engine and DCT gearbox, but with meaningfully more rear-seat and cargo space. The penalty is modest: the five-door returns 31 miles per gallon combined, one mile per gallon down from the 3-door. If passengers or cargo factor into daily life, this is the rational choice without any real character compromise.

MINI Cooper S Convertible (F67) Paul Smith Edition. The occasion car. The Convertible drops to 30 mpg combined and a slightly slower 0-60 of approximately 6.7 seconds, owing to its heavier structure. What it gains, obviously, is the open-air experience, and the Paul Smith Edition’s combination of exterior color and interior texture actually makes a stronger case for the Convertible than any standard model. The Convertible is supplied with a black soft top as standard.

MINI Cooper SE (J01) Paul Smith Edition (Electric, UK/Europe only). In markets where it’s available, the all-electric Cooper SE carries the same exterior design package, with 218 horsepower and a 0-100 km/h time of 6.7 seconds, and a WLTP range between 180 and 249 miles. American buyers won’t get this one. The electric Cooper is not currently offered in the US, primarily because the model is built in China via BMW’s joint venture with Great Wall Motor, subjecting it to higher import tariffs.

Exterior: What You’re Actually Buying

The exterior work is where Paul Smith’s hand shows most clearly, and the color story deserves a close read.

Three paint finishes are available, two of which are exclusive to the Paul Smith Edition. Statement Grey is a modern interpretation of a Classic Mini Austin Seven colour from 1959, and Inspired White is a homage to the retro Mini Beige shade. Midnight Black is the only non-exclusive colour, carried over from the standard range.

Then there’s the roof. The roof can be finished in Nottingham Green, a tribute to Sir Paul’s birthplace, or Jet Black. Opting for the green sees a Paul Smith Signature Stripe added above the rear window; the black roof features gloss and matte stripes of varying thickness. The Nottingham Green roof is the bolder, more distinctly Paul Smith choice. The Jet Black roof with shadow stripes reads as more restrained, a better pairing with Midnight Black if you want the interior details to do the talking.

Beyond the roof: Nottingham Green grille surrounds, mirror caps, and hub covers appear throughout, the MINI logo at front and rear is rendered in a newly designed Black Blue, and Paul Smith’s signature appears on the black horizontal tailgate handle strip. All edition vehicles ride on 18-inch Night Flash Spoke black aluminum wheels with a Dark Steel tinted clearcoat.

One small but meaningful touch: on the driver’s side, the roof edge is adorned with Paul Smith’s trademark Signature Stripe. It’s easy to miss on a photograph, but in person it’s exactly the kind of quiet detail that rewards the closer look.

Interior: The Argument for This Over a Standard Cooper S

The exterior is good. The interior is better, and it’s where the value proposition becomes clearer.

The dashboard and door panels feature knitted surfaces in black, inspired by Paul Smith’s tone-on-tone striped fabrics. It’s an unusual material choice for an automotive interior, and an effective one. On a standard Cooper, the dashboard is a fine piece of work but a conventional one. Here it becomes a conversation.

The Nightshade Blue sports seats, made of Vescin with knitted textile inserts, provide a strong visual anchor for the cabin. Bright multicolored stitching on the steering wheel references the designer’s Signature Stripe.

The details accumulate. The circular central display can show one of three Paul Smith-themed backgrounds when Personal Mode is selected. A handwritten “Hello” projection greets the driver on door entry, and the door sills carry the motto “Every day is a new beginning.” A hand-drawn rabbit graphic by Paul Smith on the floor mats completes the interior personality. None of these are features you configure into a standard Cooper S at any price. They’re exclusive to this edition, and they hold up on repeated exposure in a way that novelties usually don’t.

The SE Paul Smith Edition’s equipment list also includes a panoramic glass roof, augmented reality navigation, a Harman Kardon sound system, heated front seats with power adjustment and massaging functions, a 360-degree surround view camera, adaptive cruise control, and parking assistant plus. Expect similar specification depth across the ICE variants when those are fully detailed.

Pricing

This is where it gets more complicated, depending on your market.

United Kingdom. The Paul Smith Edition is priced from £32,705 OTR, with first customer deliveries expected in spring 2026. That starting figure is based on the electric Cooper SE. The all-electric Cooper Paul Smith Edition starts at £31,205 with a £1,500 government grant applied. ICE variant pricing for the 3-door, 5-door, and Convertible follows shortly, and has not yet been individually broken out on MINI UK’s configurator. For reference, the overall range starts from £31,205 across all variants. Expect the Convertible to be the premium entry in the range, likely in the mid-to-upper £30,000s when it’s fully listed.

German pricing is now partially in place. The all-electric MINI Cooper SE Paul Smith Edition starts at €33,790 gross in Germany, with delivery and handover costs of an additional €950 plus registration. That entry point is for the J01 electric 3-door, which is the first variant available to order. 

For the ICE range, the picture is almost complete. The MINI Cooper 3-door, 5-door, and Cabrio Paul Smith Editions open for configuration on mini.de on 28 May 2026. Pricing for those three petrol variants had not been officially published at time of writing, but given that the standard Cooper S 3-door sits in the mid-€30,000 range in Germany and the Paul Smith Edition carries substantial standard specification over a regular Cooper S, expect entry pricing in the €37,000–€39,000 range for the 3-door, with the Cabrio likely crossing €40,000. The configurator is now open.

United States. US availability is expected in late summer 2026, across the 2-door, 4-door, and Convertible Cooper S. MINI USA has not yet released MSRP figures for the Paul Smith Edition. The starting MSRPs will be released soon, per MINI USA. Given that the standard 2026 Cooper S 2-door starts in the mid-$30,000 range and the Paul Smith Edition brings substantial standard equipment and exclusive content, expect pricing to reflect that. Check miniusa.com for updates as they come.

Which One to Buy

The 3-door remains the definitive Cooper S experience. Both brands have evolved, but their shared sensibility, one of optimism, cleverness, and craft, remains at the core. And in Paul Smith blue, or Statement Grey over a Nottingham Green roof, the 3-door carries that synthesis more completely than any standard model currently in the lineup.

The 5-door is the pragmatic answer for buyers with rear-seat obligations, and there’s nothing wrong with that calculus. The car loses nothing meaningful in the translation to four doors.

The Convertible is the most self-indulgent choice, which is also the correct choice if open-air motoring is genuinely part of your life. The Paul Smith Edition’s interior gives it a personality that the standard Convertible, pleasant as it is, doesn’t quite have.

The SE electric variant, for UK and European buyers, is a different calculation entirely, one that hinges on how much daily electric range matters to you and whether the higher starting price fits. The fundamentals of the J01 platform are good, and the Paul Smith treatment suits it well.

What all four share is this: the Paul Smith Edition doesn’t feel like a special edition in the cynical sense, a late-cycle premium extraction before a model changeover. It feels like what we suspected when we first reported it in 2024 and what MINI confirmed at Tokyo: a genuine design collaboration that makes the car better in the ways that matter for an audience that cares about more than specifications. Not everyone needs a knitted dashboard. But if you’re reading this, you probably already know whether you do.