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Here's a MINI related excerpt from today's New York Times. The story is about small scale models how they are produced and designed:

'Rob Mitchell, the director of corporate communications for
BMW North America, is known for his vast collection of Bimmer
models, each neatly sealed in its box. These provide a visual
index to his encyclopedic knowledge of the company\'s models
over the decades.

Model makers seal deals with automobile companies to get the
dimensions of coming models long before the real cars roll
into dealerships. The just-announced Mini Cabrio will be
available in model form this September, at about the same time
that the actual car arrives.'