THE John Cooper Works MINI will be back on sale in the spring after the car has completed testing under the new fuel emission standards.

The hot MINI - in both hatch and convertible styles - was withdrawn from the market a couple of months ago while owners BMW carried out the tests.

Under the new Euro 6d-TEMP emission standards the manual hatch is rated at 40.9 mpg with best emissions of 157g/km and the convertible at 39.8 to the gallon with a CO2 figure from 161g/km.

Models fitted with an eight-speed steptronic box come in at 45.6mpg for the hatch and 43.5 for the convertible.

Both are powered by a twin turbo 2.0-litre four cylinder engine developing 231bhp which gives the hatch a 0 to 60 time of 6.3 seconds. The convertible is rated at 6.6 seconds.

Standard features include sport suspension with 17-inch alloy wheels, a sports braking system and a John Cooper Works aerodynamic kit while the new cars have been upgraded with black gloss interior trim and bucket-style sports seats finished in Dinamica leather.

As part of the changes under the new regulations MINI has fitted petrol particulate filters into the exhaust system bringing them into line with all other versions of the MINI.

The new John Cooper Works models are due for release in March and prices are expected to be announced soon. The previous models were priced from £23,780 for the hatch and £27,830 for the convertible.