In a cheeky ceremony paying homage to England’s iconic changing of the guard, MINI recently handed over the key to the new retail shop to Jan-Christiaan Koenders and Chris Collet, The Netherlands’ BMW and MINI Group Directors respectively. The store opens to the public this Saturday and features a full breadth of items from MINI’s lifestyle accessories catalog. Unlike the traditional Queen’s Guard, these fuzzy-hatted soldiers were all smiles.
It’s not a dealership, but rather an embassy for motoring. MINI is the first and only automaker to open a brand store in the Netherlands, featuring merchandise well rooted in the brand’s iconic British roots. With both car accessories and lifestyle items on the shop floor, visitors can even configure the MINI of their liking on a big screen inside. This first store in Amsterdam is a pilot store for shops that could open up around the world. Will a MINI brand store make its way into the Mall of America any time soon? Probably not.
The cars of MINI’s John Cooper Works sub-brand are often described as halo models. They are intended to be each MINI in its purest, most sporting form. While perhaps not as aggressively separate as BMW’s M division, the JCW cars have always been a good balance of power and performance without sacrificing reliability. For those willing to pay the premium, the JCW cars offer that little bit extra on already brilliant cars. Since the Countryman’s introduction, many have wondered (myself included) if the R60 would also come in a JCW flavor.
Wonder no more because, as the photo above suggests, we now know the answer to that question. continued →
In an email this week, MINIUSA officially announced MINI Takes the States 2012.
Here’s a bold New Year’s resolution: attend the biggest MINI road rally in America. It’s called MINI TAKES THE STATES and it’s back again in 2012. More details will be available in late January, but we’ve been getting lots of questions about it so we wanted to let everyone know that we are indeed gearing up for another one of our epic cross-country road rallies. To get an idea of what MTTS is all about, picture a caravan of MINIs stretched as far as the eye can see, with food, music & miles of motoring fun. Or, just check out the highlights from 2010.
We are expecting to have more details, including the date, sometime in mid-January. Stay tuned!
While in Austria during the JCW Countryman preview, I had a chance to spend some time with Heinz Krusche, the head engineer for BMW’s Driving Dynamics devision. Driving Dynamics is the group responsible for the DSC, DTC, xDrive and All4 systems for both BMW and MINI. Much of the press event was about experiencing MINI’s All4 system on the snowy mountain roads of Austria. While previewing the JCW Countryman prototype, Herr Krusche gave me a full run-down on how the system works and just when the rear wheels are pitching in to do their part. Turns out, the system works a little bit differently than we’d previously been told. continued →
Earlier this week, an eagle-eyed reader pointed out that a little event called MINI United was listed on a French racetrack’s online calendar of events. That listing was soon removed, but now we have the official announcement from MINI that the beloved global MINI festival will take place May 11-13, 2012 at Circuit Paul Recard after all. MINI throws a hell of a party and MINI United looks like it’s going to be a great time. We’ve talked with MINI USA and they’ll be putting together something special for US owners who attend as well. More information is available over at MINI Space, and the full press release is after the break. Will we see you there? continued →
News from Motoringfile.com and Ask Chad, just the way you like it. We do spend a fair amount of time talking about MINI Connected this week and have all come to the conclusion that it’s a pretty good deal and the potential is there for some very cool stuff. A couple of Ask Chad questions have the queue almost empty, so you should get those questions in!
A little event news. For those that missed it, the dates for AMVIV 9 have been announced. You know where to find the WRR/MF crew June 14 – June 17, 2012, right? That’s right, Vegas baby! Expect a lot more event news in the very near feature!
Woofcast 406:
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It’s well known in the MINI community that the CVT automatic transmission used in the early R50s was — how shall I put this delicately — kind of a pile of crap. I don’t think anyone would dispute that it was a terrible transmission with a notorious reputation for spontaneous, premature failure and extremely expensive repair costs. Those issues are well known and oft mentioned on WRR. I don’t think anyone would dispute the reputation the CVT earned for itself, but the law firm of Baron and Budd is alleging more. The national law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against BMW claiming that MINI’s parent company knowingly cut corners on these early CVTs in an effort to rush the car to market, keep up with its explosive demand and keep its asking cost as low as possible. continued →
1st Gen MINI R50: One & MC Hatch R52: All 1st Gen MINI Convt. R53: MCS Hatch 2nd Gen MINI R55: Clubman R56: Hatch R57: Convertible R58: Coupe R59: Roadster R60: MINI Crossover R61: MINI Crossover Coupe 3rd Gen MINI F55: Clubman F56: Hatch F57: Convertible F60: MINI Crossover F62: Traveller
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Sections: Accessories, Events, Marketing Dec 20th, 2011 7 Comments 
