2011 MINI Refresh: Exterior Colors
Earlier in the week we gave you a high-level look at the 2011 MINI. Updated exterior and interior styling along with tweaks to the engines are the highlights but there’s hardly a part of the car that MINI has tweaked or rethought. So today we’re going to talk about the new colors that will be coming online for 2011.
As of August production, we will see Spice Orange, (a strong metallic Orange) that will be available on all R56 and R57 models (not the R55 Clubman.) We also get British Racing Green II, which is lighter and closer in shade to the iconic BRG of decade’s past. Lastly, we get Eclipse Gray metallic, which replaces Dark Silver metallic. Some color shuffling will then allow White Silver to be freely available on all models. Later, Ice Blue (non-metallic) will arrive with December 2010 production on the R55 Clubman and R57 Convertible. Finally, in March of 2011, we will then see Velvet Silver replace Sparkling Silver.
The best part? 2011 ordering is officially underway at your dealer (prices will be announced late next week). The updated configurator won’t go live until August but your dealer has production slots and all information needed to start order 2011s
In the coming days we’ll continue to take a closer look at the updates throughout the range both inside and outside the car.
<p>So do the dealers have updated pricing information?</p>
<p>Ick to all 5 of them. They’re either boring or ugly. Ice blue is uggggggly. Where’s a nice hyper blue or deep sea blue like the Bimmers have? I’ll keep my laser blue thank you….</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So do the dealers have updated pricing information?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They will get it in about a weeks time. You’ll see it here first most likely.</p>
<p>I really wanted my next MINI to be the Dark Silver with a white roof… Too early to tell based on the tiny fuzzy pictures of the Eclipse Gray metallic. I’ll have to wait for better pics.</p>
<p>I don’t really like any of the other new colours, although BRGII is better than the previous version but not in my taste.</p>
<p>When do we get to see pics with the optional black headlight treatment?</p>
<p>Is Ice Blue confirmed as R57 only?</p>
<p>It’s R55 and R57 only.</p>
<p>Gabe</p>
<p>For 2011, besides refreshing the exterior and interior, is MINI aiming to give the buyer more value for their money? Currently the words value and MINI don’t go together.</p>
<p>Will you be on the White Roof Radio show this week? If so, it will be a very interesting show. Keep up the great work.</p>
<p>Wow so far the new 2011 looks really cool. However I am going to wait for some coupé information before I make any decisions.</p>
<p>Will Velvet Silver be available across the entire range? I ask because I think I read on BigBlogg a week or two ago that Sparkling Silver was being discontinued on the Cooper S or maybe on all S variants… if that’s the case I wonder when Velvet Silver steps in if it will continue to be unavailable on the Cooper S…</p>
<p>btw, MINI isn’t doing themselves any big favors introducing these colors with those “crime scene” photos above. Hopefully now that the cat is out of the bag we will see some nicely lit photos shortly.</p>
<p>By the way, for those itching to see some new stuff in the configurator, MINI Austria’s configurator now allows you to build a Countryman, so you can see the colors as represented there along with wheel choices, what the unique stripes are going to look like, etc. Also if you build a Cooper S hardtop, the colors are still 2010 model, but when you zoom in on the image it is an image of the 2011 car, with the new taillights, the brake ducts, etc. The address is <a href="http://www.mini.at" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.mini.at</a>. If you are on a Mac you will have to use Firefox (or another alternative browser) as the Autsrian configurator, like all the European sites in my experience, doesn’t work on Safari.</p>
<p>Just another note about MINI Austria’s configurator, to see the full-sized image of the Countryman or 2011 Cooper S (in 2010 colors), you have to choose to “Save as Wallpaper” at the bottom of the viewfinder (“Als Wallpaper Speichern”), at least on Firefox, as the image window that pops up otherwise is blank.</p>
<p>Velvet Silver looks as if it may be a “semi-matte-look” finish? Fingers crossed.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>btw, MINI isn’t doing themselves any big favors introducing these colors with those “crime scene†photos above. Hopefully now that the cat is out of the bag we will see some nicely lit photos shortly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>the photos are from internal presentations and aren’t meant for public consumption. Be happy we got them and you can view them :)</p>
<p>No Ice Blue hardtops isn’t surprising, but it’s still disappointing.</p>
<p>Maybe on the Coopster.</p>
<p>I <em>am</em> happy to be able to see the photos, Gabe.. but I think some of the more negative comments (“boring”, “ugly”) are as much a result of the photographs as the paint on the cars, and in the case of paint which has such an emotional (rather than logical) impact, I think MINI would be smart to get some sexier photos out of these new colors.</p>
<p>Ice blue? This was on the first BMW Z3 when it came out – no one liked it.
We should call these colours by celeb names – how about ICE T BLUE, SPICE GIRL ORANGE, PARIS HILTON VELVET SILVER, GEORGE CLOONEY GREY, SHERWOOD FOREST GREEN – now that’s classy!</p>
<blockquote>I think MINI would be smart to get some sexier photos out of these new colors.</blockquote>
<p>I thought Gabe made it clear. MINI didn’t release these photos; someone leaked them without MINI’s permission. MINI will only release high quality marketing photos to the public.</p>
<p>Gabe didn’t say that they were leaked without permission.</p>
<p>“Some colour shuffling?” So, does this actually mean that White Silver will eventually make it onto the production line? If that’s the case, and as I’ve said before, I can definitely see an R59 in White Silver with a black roof parked in my garage in just over a year’s time!!</p>
<blockquote>Gabe didn’t say that they were leaked without permission.</blockquote>
<p>Gabe said they were from internal presentations and not meant for public consumption. You can infer from that what you will.</p>
<p>In any case, none of this is even officially announced! There will be good photos when MINI makes the official announcements. Until then, enjoy the unofficial previews from MotoringFile’s “internal sources”.</p>
<p>@Greg W
I can’t remember any or find any color similar to Ice Blue for the Z3. There was “Atlanta Blue”, which was found on the Z3 used in Goldeneye, but that’s clearly much darker AND metallic.</p>
<p>Blainestang — I believe he was referring to the BMW color called Turquoise on the Z3, as seen here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.z3mendi.it/images/326_TurquoiseGreen.jpg" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.z3mendi.it/images/326_TurquoiseGreen.jpg</a></p>
<p>Hey gang,</p>
<p>A few more tidbits in this C/D article…</p>
<p><a href="http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q2/2011_mini_cooper_and_clubman_get_visual_equipment_updates-car_news" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.caranddriver.com/news/car/10q2/2011_mini_cooper_and_clubman_get_visual_equipment_updates-car_news</a></p>
<p>Can’t wait for the full reveal…</p>
p>@Minipuma</p
<p>I actually saw that color on the following site…</p>
<p><a href="http://www.zroadster.net/tim/colors/z326-turq.html" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.zroadster.net/tim/colors/z326-turq.html</a></p>
<p>… but didn’t figure that’s what he was talking about since it seems notably greener. I would say Ice Blue is closer to a couple New Beetle colors, Aquarius Blue and Vapor Blue.</p>
<p>Any way you slice it, though. I don’t think you can inherently link color sales for a Z3 from 10+ years ago with color sales for a MINI Cooper.</p>
<p>Beyond that, I don’t think that sales numbers per color can be looked at as a definitive answer as to whether the color was a success. There’s no doubt in my mind that MINI uses colors that they know may not be HUGE sellers simply because they want to have a few more interesting options than Light Gray, Dark Gray, Chili Red, and BRG, even though those all sell very well. Fun colors (Oxygen Blue, Silk Green, etc) show potential buyers that MINI’s are fun whether or not they are colors that everyone will buy… in my opinion, of course.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A few more tidbits in this C/D article… Can’t wait for the full reveal…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tim – we <a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/2010/06/27/world-debut-the-new-refreshed-mini/" rel="nofollow">revealed</a> all of that and about 15 more pages photo galleries and videos eight days ago on MF. You may not know but if you miss a day or two of the site be sure to browse the latest articles going page by page or by category (top left). In fact if you want to follow the 2011 Refresh (LCI) all you have to do is go to the <a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/section/2011-lci/" rel="nofollow">2011 LCI category</a> to have all of those articles neatly organized for you.</p>
<p>I’m hip Gabe. MotoringFile is a daily stop for me. I must have just missed the mention of the three “design worlds” and the auto dimming outside mirrors…</p>
<p>Keep it coming. As always you’re the best.</p>