Video: Mini Electric tows cargo plane

The Mini Electric is due out later this year, so BMW’s marketing team decided to test a prototype Mini Cooper SE pulling a nearly 140-tonne Lufthansa Boeing 777F cargo aircraft.

It’s a stunt other automotive manufacturers have used before. In 2018, a Tesla Model 100D pulled a Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliner along the tarmac.

A Volkswagen Touareg with a 5-litre V10 diesel engine once towed a Boeing 747 too.

The Mini Electric is reported to have 250Nm of torque, using possibly the same drivetrain as the BMW i3.

Its show of strength at Frankfurt airport had the Mini Cooper SE prototype hooked up with an aircraft which had a role in the presentation of the BMW Vision iNext, explored by media at Munich, New York, San Francisco and Peking.

A Mini Cooper SE was recently seen in Los Angeles, apparently for a photo shoot, leading to conjecture the electric version should be launched soon.