The Next MINI to have a Peugeot/Citreon Chassis?

Sections: R56 (Hatch) Apr 1st, 2003 6 Comments

It's well known that BMW and Peugeot will be developing the next generation of MINI engines. But the news from this month's Roundel (the BMW Car Club of America” monthly magazine) eludes to more collaboration:

“Insiders say that PSA (Peugeot/Citreon) could provide the platform for the next MINI. BMW was forced to completely re-engineer the current “shoebox” when it discovered, about 18 months before it's promised intro date, that the car is had entrusted to Rover to develop was a total disaster. The final result was possibly the best enthusiast's car for the money ever built-but because of the comprehensive emergency surgery required to revive it, the MINI is possibly the least profitable car BMW has built in recent history. Borrowing a chassis would be a tremendous savings in development costs and help insure that the next-generation MINI generates the returns for which the company is famous.” (The Roundel)

I think BMW is walking down a risky path if it is indeed planning on borrowing a chassis from Peugoet & Citreon for the next MINI. When you talk about what sets the MINI apart from other small sports cars the conversation inevitably leads to the amazing chassis. Sure the current MINI shouldn't have been made so well. Sure it's over engineered for even a $30,000 car. But it's resulted in a rare situation in automobiles and marketing where something not only lives up to it's branding and enthusiast hype – but surpasses it. BMW needs to only look at the current VW Beetle to see what happens when a highend small car with no real engineering prowess starts to age… sales fall flat.

I've heard this rumor before. BMW basically gave up on this generation of the MINI in terms of making a profit. They figured a car so spectacular would help build a brand and a loyal following. They were 100% correct with that assumption. But I think if they cheapen the car and get rid of the wonderful chassis or the z-link rear suspension they will lose more than a predetermined percent of the customers. They will lose the respect of the auto public at large.

That being said the Roundel doesn't have a perfect track record and isn't always spot on with their info… so I wouldn't place any bets at this point.

Written By: MF Staff

SingaporeJim

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the new Minis will not have Citroen's “Indepedant Air Suspension”.
jeeves

Seems like that might make the 02, 03 MINIs a little bit more desireable down the road for collectors and car buffs. Like us!
http://bridger.us/mini Gabriel Bridger

This new car will not be produced until around 2007 most likely.
http://bridger.us/mini Gabe

Here's some info I posted a while back.
Frank

Most Americans do have a pretty bad concept of French made cars (With a good reason to an extent) but for those of us that have had the opportunity to travel to Europe in recent years, probably you have been exposed to the new generation of French made automobiles from Peugeot, Renault and Citroen. Terrific cars, especially the Peugeots. the 206, 307 and 607 are all excellent machines that currently rival the best Germany has to offer. the 206 hatchback is current a champion in the World Rally Championship. The Renaults are posting 5 star safety ratings, superb quality and innovative designs on every model (Well the Avantime model could be very controversial for us Americans). But the point I am trying to make is that today's French cars are a far cry from the AMC/Renault junk we got here over 15 years ago.

Go to:

http://www.peugeot.com (Peugeot and Citroen are now owned under the private French PSA group).

http://www.renault.com

I wish we had this much choice in America from lower priced Euro imports, seriously.

Having said all this, I know that BMW is well aware of the success and following of the current MINI platform and I hope they continue to keep this in mind come around 2007.

I think the current MINI is a terrific car and if BMW makes the mistake of changing it radically to make it more appealing to a wider market segment, they would be making a serious mistake.

The MINI in North America is and always will be a niche automobile for those of us that want something different from the pricey Luxury oriented European marques and the annoyingly appliance like “personality” of the great majority of cookie-cutter Asian cars.
Lucas

The French automaker's reputation is not nearly that of its German counter parts. Several mechanic friends of mine in Asia (where French cars are available) stand by their old saying: if you look under the hood of a German car, everything is nice, clean, and organized. But if you look under the hood of a French car, it's a total mess!

But reputation aside, borrowing a chassis from Peugeot/Citroen is hardly the same as being a modified version of Peugeot/Citroen car. The suspension tuning, engine, electronics, body styling, etc. will still come from the same German engineering that we all love.

A poorly designed chassis requires enormous amount of design and build material compensation to achieve a certain level of performance, where as a well designed chassis could achieve the same level of performance with less expensive material and more conventional design.

Take suspension, for example. A poorly designed chassis may not allow easy placement of suspension linkages — so it requires a more elaborate type of suspension as well as more expensive material used for those suspension linkages to compensate for the poorly designed chassis.

I think that is what is meant by “cheaper to make”. It does not necessarily mean that BMW is going to start cutting corners to the point that it will compromise its premium status.

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