Any links to these photographs of the MINI Speedster on the Copacabana/Ipanema?

“The SUV backlash has begun”

I highly respect what BMW/Mini has done with the brand since developing the modern Mini. A large part of this respect is based on a small car that was a unique solution that was not available generally, the small footprint luxury car. Developing a SUV lack all manner of being anything unique. Yes its a tiny bit smaller than most of its current competition, but looking whats being shown in auto shows this will not be the case for long however.

Actually you will be surprised on how the SAV MINI has turned out. So far all you have seen regarding the production car are the bright yellow prototypes to which comments have been made it’s too tall and too thin. Well some of these prototypes are not equipped with the full MINI cladding around the sills and wheel arches which leads to the negative comments but it is as chunky as the crossover concept and it is in real life very compact even compared to the BMW X1. I think that there will be a market for smaller crossovers mainly by families who would not have considered the MINI brand before , also for customers who wish to downsize further from a larger SAV. In Germany there are several customers who own first generation BMW X5’s who are on the list for the BMW X1.

My only question is if we will see a more complete product from JCW. As from the release the current JCW coupe has been heavily criticized for lacking uniqueness and by only offering a partial performance solution (notably the lack of a performance suspension). Try as I might I cannot fathom that M would ever release an auto that does not have a performance tuned suspension and usually has an unique look to differentiate it from the other models in the range.

JCW to personally to me still feels more like a kit car than a sub-brand. After the GP I had some serious hope to see JCW evolved into a M style group but I feel its first product was a partially tuned product with commonly available JCW components. I do feel with the vast amount of money spent by Mini owners tuning their cars that a true performance car would be very well received.

Still at the end of the day I don’t think a micro SUV belongs in the brand personally.