Mini plugs the gap between Cooper and Countryman with a fun-loving, high-riding rival for the Volvo EX30 The Mini brand had a busy 2024, but the car to which we now turn – the Mini Aceman – may well be its most important development among so many renewed siblings. That’s because the Aceman isn’t quite a natural successor for the short-lived Paceman three-door crossover of 2012, nor is it a differently named follow-up to the slow-selling Clubman pseudo-estate.It is, instead, a new kind of Mini intended to perfectly plug the gap that has started to appear between the core Cooper hatchbacks and the C-segment-sized Countryman.And if it seems to assume something of a key significance, that may be because it is the scion of the Aceman concept which, back in 2022, gave us our first flavour of Mini’s current design language.This is the car that aims, more than any other, to perfectly fuse trademark Mini dynamism and desirability with more pragmatic usability. Built exclusively by Spotlight Automotive (the BMW Group’s joint venture with Great Wall Motor) in Zhangjiagang, China, it is also the only model in Mini’s showroom catalogue to be exclusively wedded to electric power.