May 19th, 2014
Ever since for MINI Design head Gert Hildebrand and Exterior Design head Marcus Syring dreamt up the idea of the Rocketman while waiting for a delayed flight at a New York airport, there’s been a powerful movement within the company to get it built. While the initial design study was seen as a major success, ultimately it died on the vine due to BMW not wanting to invest in a city car version of the forthcoming UKL platform. More specifically BMW didn’t believe the sales volume would ever make up the initial investment unless they sold the car for the same price as the F56 – which to many would be unacceptable.
But lucky for us that didn’t stop the enthusiasm inside MINI for making a city car. continued →
May 16th, 2014
It doesn’t take a mathematician to understand that building MINIs in the UK isn’t ideal if your biggest market is in the US. With currencies being what they are, it’s always made MINIs sold in North America much less profitable than those sold in Europe and elsewhere. Now BMW may finally have a plan in place to rectify this issue. Simply make them in North America skirting by all those currency issues.
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Apr 11th, 2014
While the automotive world is focused on the new MINI, the upcoming four door and Clubman, MINI is quietly working on what will be the largest MINI yet, the F60 Countryman. Expected in the summer of 2017 MINI is already using focus groups to help get feedback on early concepts for the car.
Why is MINI making these changes? Consumer response to the Countryman has been good over the past three years since launch with sales that have exceeded expectations. However it’s clear that those same consumers want a car with slightly more room and less trade-offs. What does that mean?
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Mar 19th, 2014
Earlier today BMW uber source Scott26 (or Herr26 on BF) officially confirmed that they will bring to market an X2 sport activity coupe based on the second generation X1 and Countryman in 2017. According to BMW the model will be more upmarket than the X1 and only offered with xDrive. It is expected to come in both five and three door formats and will follow the typical crossover coupe design BMW initiated with the X6.
As expected the car will share a stretched version of the UKL platform with the next generation Countryman and Paceman. Yes the Paceman.
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Mar 10th, 2014
MINI and BMW executives keep dropping more and more indicators that several current MINI models don’t have a future in this new generation of cars. This latest round of revelations came via Oliver Friedmann, head of MINI brand management, in a conversation with Auto News. Instead of a wide cross-section of model variants, Friedmann says MINI’s new strategy is to focus on three “pillar” cars to ground the product lineup in what MINI is all about. Those models? The F56 hardtop hatch, the next generation Countryman, and the next generation Clubman which we saw in concept at Geneva.
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Feb 11th, 2014
Bookmark this post. Because in 7-8 years we’ll be talking about this as a reality.
According to Autocar, BMW plans to reduce the number of models within the MINI range with the introduction of the fourth generation car. Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW board member for Mini and Rolls-Royce suggested that MINI focus on it’s core “hero” models rather than create many derivatives. While it’s not necessarily something we haven’t heard before, this is the first time a BMW Board member has gotten into the strategy behind the move.
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Jan 22nd, 2014
The Timeline
Lets start with the basics – timeline. MINI is planning to debut the 2015 JCW on the internet in December of 2014. This means we should see a production debut at the 2015 Detroit Autoshow in early January of 2015. Production should start in March of 2015 with the first cars hitting dealers in April throughout Europe and May in the US.
Read on for the details on power and design.
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