World Premier: MINI VISION NEXT 100 Concept

It’s here – the MINI Vision Next 100. This is MINI’s vision for its future has debuted in a stunning concept that’s set to debut in London this week.
Earlier this year the BMW Group embarked on a year long celebration of the BMW brand’s hundredth year in existence. To celebrate the occasion they produced a stunning and thought provocative concept (awkwardly dubbed) the BMW Vision Next 100. The concept is meant to be a glimpse into the brand’s future products and strategy around technology and performance.
Now it’s MINI’s turn. Unlike the BMW concept which focused on autonomy, the key idea behind the MINI VISION NEXT 100 is responsible use of resources for personal mobility. The motto “Every MINI is my MINI” is about innovative car-sharing, with MINI fans of the future able to access and tailor any MINI to their own personal preferences, anywhere and at any time. The MINI will be available to everybody at all times, picking drivers up autonomously from wherever they like and adjusting the car’s appearance, driving characteristics and connectivity to suit the user’s personal lifestyle. New, customised mobility with the MINI VISION NEXT 100 builds on connected digital intelligence.
We’ll have much much more on the new concept in the coming days and weeks. But until then read on for the event details and a full gallery of the new MINI Vision Next 100.
“BMW Group Iconic Impulses. The BMW Group Future Experience.” event and exhibition concept
This event and exhibition concept will allow as many people as possible around the world to experience the BMW Group’s vision of future mobility. It is open to the public in London from 18 to 26 June 2016.
The narrative of the exhibition takes visitors through different worlds of experience and reflects the BMW Group’s 100-year history as a pioneering, innovative company. Visitors also learn more about key global megatrends and about the challenges and opportunities society will face in the future. In addition, the exhibition provides information about the BMW Group and its responsibilities regarding the environment, society and its employees.
The Inner Rotunda of the exhibition provides the setting for the debuts of the two Vision Vehicles and for press conferences and various events. It also offers a platform for discussions around key questions of the future. Specialists from a wide range of areas, such as politics, science, business, culture and the interested public, are invited to contribute their thoughts and ideas and join an open exchange with a variety of perspectives on key future topics.
11 Comments
<p>Oh…</p>
<p>So, um, who remembers the Rocketman concept? That was fun, remember?</p>
<p>Wait. What??</p>
<p>It’s no Rocketman,?
But Seriously check out the video. It’s worth it…. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TcQCkWGcwVM" rel="nofollow ugc">https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TcQCkWGcwVM</a></p>
<p>So, I’ve been thinking about this a lot….. And I’m not really into a lot of what this shows.</p>
<p>1) I don’t want a transparent car. Even if it’s a ride-sharing vehicle. Sometimes I even change in my car, so transparent is out.</p>
<p>2) I mostly don’t like all the “personalization” that is shown in the video, but I think there is something to be said of the idea. For example, via NFC in my phone, the ride-share car could unlock for me, set the seat and the radio stations and stuff like that. (app sync, whatever) But I really am not into a lot of the other personalization ideas shown. Seems to me it’s more form over function, something MINI has spent way, way to much time on.</p>
<p>3) I don’t think that the industry has really figured out the whole autonomous driving stuff, and until they do, I don’t think moving the steering wheel out of the way is a good idea. What if the car needs help and is confused by what it sees? Or if there is a system failure and manual mode has to be invoked. Maybe these types of problems will go away with improved self-driving systems, but for now, I don’t think it’s a good idea</p>
<p>4) The responsible use of resources theme should go throughout the corporation, and BMW has been pretty good overall. But it’s not just a MINI theme.</p>
<p>5) The notion that MINI is there for you, any time anywhere, as a ride-sharing paradigm sounds nice, but it’s got problems. Supply has to be geared to peak demand, meaning lots of cars, otherwise one doesn’t get a car when one wants one, and there goes a lot of the utility of the idea. This is not a new problem, and has been studied in lots of different contexts. But the nut of it is if they want MINI to be available at any time to any member of the ride-sharing participant pool, then they have lots of cars that will just be sitting during off-peak demand hours. This means average utilization will be less than ideal, and cost per participant will be higher than if this is just for a smaller portion of the driving public. And where do all these cars go when they aren’t in use? Highly dense parking structures (don’t need extra space for the doors to open if the cars drive themselves into the space and the like)…. There’s also what I call sloshing…. Like all the shared vehicles stacking up at one end of a primary commute corridor at the start of a work day, and away from there at the end of the work day. This shows up all over the place as well. Like train station parking lots that are full during the day and empty at night, to wafer carriers in semiconductor fabs all ending up at one part of the production facility (a problem dealt with by having extra carriers, and storage bays for overflow. Think tiny parking lots! And transport scheduling to return carriers to other parts of the fab meaning extra tracks and the like…. ) Anyway, ride-sharing as a significant portion of the vehicle fleet is only half-baked at this moment. It seems like all the companies getting into it are afraid of missing the potential train, as opposed to actually having a working vision of how it really work in volume.</p>
<p>Overall, I think it’s an interesting exercise in design, but I’d only give it a B-/C+.</p>
<p>when these become what MINI is known for, I will be picking up a cherry vintage R56 off E-bay for a song (Sparkling Silver with red leather seats, I think….)</p>
<p>Yessssss. The R56 was the end of a good thing. Our brand only looks set to fall even further down the ranks of fun to drive cars after the F56 finally bites the dust, not a minute too soon. I was really hoping MINI would go back to their older models for inspiration. I missed the razor sharp handling, firm brake pedal that felt like it had bite, heavy steering, real engine noises and audible exhaust, handsome styling and better use of interior space. The f56 left those things behind, but this concept of the future really looks set on destroying it all. BMW has really made a turn for the worse and nothing in their future looks like it will ever be as good as it was in the ‘E’ and ‘R’ eras.</p>
<p>If this is the future of MINI, please pull the plug now. I was hoping the F56 would be the last really bad generation and after this, we would move back in line with the older models. Things only look worse in the future now.</p>
<p>I don’t understand the hate on the F5x, other than the brakes, it really is the best BMW MINI ever made.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with the brakes? I ask because my F56 has a brake issue: massive brake dust build up on front passenger side wheel (but not the other three) and an intermittent rubbing/grinding sound coming from that same wheel.</p>
<p>Another humongous effort made to end up with a transportation appliance that looks more like an Art Center 3rd Semester exercise than a desirable, well proportioned beautiful car. BMW and MINI really need to take a serious look at their design executives and the senior designers involved with all these “concepts”. Anybody else see the new the Rolls Royce concept?. Same thing. I suspect this too came from a Bangle recruit who is now in a senior design position. my ’09 R56 is a keeper.</p>