The Day MINI Stopped Making the Manual: What We Lost and What It Means
MINI ended manual production in February 2024. Here's what that cost the brand, what the sales data revealed, and whether it returns.
What If JCW Looked Like the Machina? How MINI Could Evolve Its Performance Halo
JCW has been on a tear with record sales globally in 2025. But the brand also feels like it’s at a crossroads. MINI has allowed the look of the JCW to be...
Can Electric Performance Cars Ever Truly Satisfy Enthusiasts?
For years, the assumption was simple. Once electric vehicles reached maturity, performance would naturally follow. Faster acceleration, smarter chassis control, limitless tuning potential. On paper, electric cars should be the ultimate enthusiast...
How MINI Became the Most Successful British Car Brand of the Modern Era
The Improbable Story of How MINI Outlasted the Rest of the British Motoring Industry British automotive history is littered with proud names that lost their way. Some drifted until the market forgot...
2026 MINI Cooper Paul Smith Edition: Why This Special Edition Feels Different
For MINI fans, special editions are nothing new, but few carry the kind of design heritage this one does. The upcoming 2026 MINI Paul Smith Edition isn’t just another paint-and-sticker package; it’s...
Why the Next MINI Cooper JCW GP Should Be the Manual Halo for MINI
This week we’re exploring the future of shifting in MINIs — from manuals to DCTs to even EVs. First we gave you our opinion on the future of shift paddle design, then...
Future MINI Cooper EVs Could Revive The Manual Driving Experience
This week we’re exploring the future of shifting in MINIs — from manuals to DCTs to even EVs. First we gave you our opinion on the future of shift paddle design. Today...
MINI Cooper and Countryman Paddle Shifting Needs a Rethink – Here’s How
This week we’re exploring the future of shifting in MINIs — from manuals to DCTs to even EVs. First up – paddles. From the original 1959 Austin Seven to the R53 Cooper...
Top 5 MINI Concepts That Should Have Made Production
After chronicling every MINI concept from the past three decades, one question kept surfacing in our inbox (and frankly, in our own heads): which ones should have been built? So we went...
Does Slate’s “Truck” Channel the 1959 Mini (And Could MINI Learn from it)?
Sometimes the best tech is no tech. The best user interface? No interface at all. And sometimes the biggest disruption in a bloated market comes not from more features, but from asking:...
Why the 2006 MINI Cooper S Might Be the Best Modern MINI Ever Built
There are MINIs that are good. There are MINIs that are fast. And then there’s the R53 MINI Cooper S— so immediate, so brutally charismatic, and so Mini, it might just be...