(This is a repost from a year ago with only the dates changed) Hard to believe but the new MINI made it’s US debut five years ago this past week in New York. To give you the full favor of the time period here’s an excerpt from the article Autoweek ran about the introduction:
Frank Stephenson says he’s the luckiest guy in the world because he’s got the best job in the world. As he pulls the cover off his work for the past five years, who could argue?
Stephenson, an American who grew up in Europe, was given the responsibility of redesigning the Mini — the British automotive icon some view on par with VW’s Beetle. Walking around the car inside a film studio in New York’s Greenwich Village at its U.S. debut, Stephenson says this is a project he believes he was born to complete.
“I celebrated my 40th birthday the same day of the Mini’s 40th anniversary. So I guess it was fate,” Stephenson says. “Plus, this was the only car I’ve ever stolen — it belonged to my mother.”
Some people may cringe at being asked to change the face
of a legend, a legend that has brought smiles and affordable miles to millions. Not Stephenson. “The genetics and character of the old car had to be carried over. We’d be shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn’t keep that look,” Stephenson says. Adds Wolfgang Vollath, director of brand management for the Mini, “The Mini will put a smile on everyone’s face. The Mini is not something that’s here today and gone tomorrow.”…Unlike, say, the PT Cruiser, the new Mini is not a retro-design car drawing influence from cars of yore, but rather an update of the original, a direct successor.
“It has the genes and many of the key characteristics of its predecessor, but is larger, more powerful, more muscular and more exciting than its predecessor ever was,” Stephenson says. In fact, Stephenson’s work is the first complete redesign of the car in its 40 years. The redesign has been faithful to the car’s origin. Its shape crouches low to the ground and when you see the headlights and grille, a smile comes almost immediately. You know it’s a Mini.
You can read the entire article here.
The really cool thing about reading this today is knowing how amazing the car is to drive and how incredibly successful the MINI has been in the marketplace.
As many of you know Mr. Stephenson has moved on from MINI and is now designing cars at Ferrari, Maserati and Fiat. You can read more from Mr. Stephenson here and check out one of his sketches of the prototype new MINI (from 1998!) here (via BMWworld).
Related
[ The MINI Concepts of the 1990’s ] MotoringFile
<p>Speaking of milestones from the ancient past, how about Feb 2002 when the MM and MINI dealership Principles were invited out to drive MINIs for the first time at the Presidio and Sears Point. </p>
<p>I’m sure others have some early memories of what it was like back before the dealerships officially opened and none of us had MINIs yet.</p>
<p>The history of the Mini and, now, MINI make for excellent reads. Thinking back on this always brings nice thoughts… ;-)</p>
<p>It was only this week I was talking to a friend who was working on a ship 5 years ago – On board was a covered up car – the new Mini – bound for New York</p>
<p>that’s cool, mikey.</p>
<p>From the end of the 9/18/00 Autoweek article:</p>
<p>“If your first look at the Mini doesn’t bring a smile to your face, then you’ve got no automotive soul. Whether that smile continues while behind the wheel will have to wait until driving impressions can be made early next year. The retro market, while nonexistent a few years ago, is getting fairly crowded, with more from other automakers on the way.</p>
<p>So the question of just how long that smile continues in Munich — and Oxford — may depend not on those who view the Mini as a throwback to the past, but on those who could see in it a look to the future.”</p>
<p>Five years on, the answer’s clear. Every Mini I see brings a smile to my face.</p>
<p>Today I turned in the keys to my 03 Indi Blue MCS, and received the keys to my new 05 Hyper Blue MCS. Where the 03 was retro, the 05, with its much discussed changes, clearly points to the future.</p>
<p>I look forward to continuing this love affair. Motor on!</p>
<p>Browsing through the links to this article, I saw Stephenson’s reference to having dreamed up an evolution for the MINI decade by decade and making the 1999 version his starting point for the current MINI. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see the original sketches of those imaginary MINIs? I wonder if anyone hung on to them…</p>
<p>Frank Stephenson was NOT an American.
Here is his story from another website;
“Born in Morocco to a Norwegian father and Spanish mother, he spoke three languages – Norwegian, Spanish, and Arabic – by the time he attended an international school in Casablanca where he added English to his repertoire. His first design stints at Cologne (Ford) and Munich (BMW) required him to converse in German for 16 years, and now he speaks Italian (Maserati) most working days.The inonation that leads most people to assume from his Californian accent that he is American originates from his six years training at the Art Centre College of Design in Pasadena, California, the primary breeding gorund for the design heavyweights of the automotive sector. He got into Pasadena on the back of a Ford scholarship. After BMW poached him off Ford, he designed the X5 and then the new MINI.
The MINI took a huge chunk out of his life, and was able to stay through the whole gestation [1996-2001] until he moved out and on to Maserati.”</p>
<p>3 years ago this week my car was crossing the Atlantic… And I was completely obsessed with tracking it’s every move…</p>
Hey, October 3rd I read is his birthday! Isn’t he now leading Fiat Group design? Guess that means tough competition for the MINI when the new Fiat 500 comes out!