MINI2

The BMW Group claimed the honour of  “Design Team of the Year”  at the 2007 Red Dot Design Awards, with the new, second generation MINI scooping one of eight awards the group managed to achieve for wide ranging designs from a child’s bicycle, to a coffee maker, to a MINI!

The award winning designs are all featured on the Red Dot website, and are as follows:  Ecopod E1 compact recycler, Talea Touch automatic coffee centre, BMW Cruise Bike Junior bicycle for kids, BMW F 800 S motorcycle, BMW G 650 Xcountry motorcycle, BMW HP2 Megamoto motorcycle, BMW 3 Series Coupé and last, but cleary not least The new MINI.

An interesting comment in the press release comes from Chris Bangle, head of BMW Design, who makes a statement about the fluidity of movement between all design teams such as those for BMW, M, Rolls Royce, MINI and Motorcycles, and how this sharing of pooled talent improves understanding between the separate design teams, but also re-enforces the individuality of each family member.

For this Dutch seaside town, summer has never begun quite like it did this year!

Over the course of three days, more than 8000 MINI fans from 50 different countries flooded the Circuit Park on the North Sea coast for the MINI United Festival 2007. Under the banner of ‘Friends. Festival. Challenge.’, the worldwide community of MINI fans enjoyed a unique mixture of racing atmosphere, party and lifestyle. It even exceeded the resounding success of the MINI United premiere in 2005. The event underscores the growth of the MINI community and the enjoyment of the MINI brand, lifestyle and sense of community seems to be limitless.

With the North Sea on the one side, and a sea of 3000 MINIs on the other covering the town’s roads and car parks, Zandvoort was certainly the perfect location for the biggest MINI festival ever. Many of the guests had travelled a long distance to be there and join in the action of the MINI United 2007. The longest journey of all was undertaken by Yuliya Tkachenko from Krasnodar in Russia: She left her home seven days before the festival began, travelling some 4200km in her MINI to be sure of arriving in time for the event.

Continue reading 8,000 MINI Fans from 50 Countries Invade Zandvoort for MINI United

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport is pleased to announce the approval of a new one-make national racing series to be known as the ‘MINI Challenge’ which will hit Australian circuits starting from 2008. The series is expected to visit all states and territories around the country and will join the likes of Formula 3, Formula Ford and Carerra Cup as domestic racing categories which also have strong links internationally.

It is great to welcome the iconic MINI back to the Australian motor racing scene after so many years

said Graeme Emerton, Chairman of CAMS’ Australian Motor Racing Commission.

The MINI Challenge, which is already being run in a number of European countries and also New Zealand, has been an incredibly successful initiative and MINI’s long term commitment to Australian motor sport with this series will provide confidence to competitors and event promoters alike.

The MINI brand has had a long association with motor sport in Australia, particularly in Touring Car racing with their most significant achievement coming in 1966 with Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden at the helm of the victorious Morris Cooper S at Bathurst, a race in which Mini cars amazingly filled the top nine places.

More recently, Australian MINI motor sport activities have focused on tarmac rallying with a three-car team campaigned in 2006 and 2007. The lead Team MINI racer, driven by Paul Stokell, finished ninth outright in the 2007 Targa Tasmania rally in April.

Continue reading MINI Challenge set to make Australian debut in 2008

Wheels that “think” are being added to an electric Mini with blistering performance developed by British engineers.

The “smart” wheels sense road conditions and modify the car’s performance accordingly. Artificial intelligence (AI) will allow the wheels to communicate with each other and “learn” from experience as the car is driven.

The Mini Cooper, an early version of which was exhibited at last year’s British Motor Show, is powered by four wheel-mounted electric motors that together generate 640 brake horsepower. As a result, the electric car performs more like a Ferrari than a milk float, with a top speed of 150 mph and the ability to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds. A small 250cc petrol engine charges the car’s battery while it is being driven, giving it a range of 900 miles and fuel consumption of 80 to 100 miles to the gallon.

The Hampshire-based team working on the project, which is partly funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, hope the new Mini will revolutionise electric road transport.

Martin Boughtwood, director of PML Flightlink of Alton, told The Engineer magazine:

We had the belief that we could create a very efficient electric vehicle but could see no one was approaching it the right way. There’s a stigma attached to electric vehicles, but really they can out-perform combustion vehicles.

The completed Mini will have no transmission and all its functions, including suspension and braking, will be linked by software.

Scientists from the University of Portsmouth were brought in to add the smart wheel technology after the car’s motor show appearance.

Continue reading Electric MINI Cooper, Now Complete with Thinking Wheels

Well, kind of anyway. A start-up business based in San Francisco, focused on delivering customer satisfaction across all types of industry, have been using MINI2 (and Tivo Community (that’s like a magic VCR with no tape by the way) as great examples of places where owners and enthusiasts (customers) can go, share experiences and in particular problems, and get results. Or as they would call it, “Satisfaction”.

Seeing as they’ve made us feel loved, we thought we’d do our bit and give them a plug for plugging us. You can see their deliciously themed website at getsatisfaction.com, and MINI2 being name dropped in their blog, and in a video interview.

Good luck guys, it’s interesting concept. And as Wolfie would say “Power to the People”.

MINI Canada has announced that the MINI Cooper Classic will join the MINI model lineup this summer with a value-leading MSRP of $22,950.

The debut of the MINI Cooper Classic follows the introduction of the new-generation MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S in February, both arriving with pricing unchanged from their predecessor 2006 models. The MINI Cooper Classic, reborn for 2007, not only incorporates all of the new elements and improvements of the new-generation MINI family, but eclipses its predecessor with a lower starting price and an even more comprehensive list of specifications.

Upgraded standard equipment on the 2007 MINI Cooper Classic now includes:

• Automatic Stability Control + Traction
• Multifunction Steering Wheel
• Passenger Seat Height Adjustment
• Unique to the Classic - 15′ 5-Star wheels with all season tires

Continue reading MINI Canada Introduces 2007 MINI Cooper Classic

MINI Ireland have announced record breaking sales in 2007.

By midday on Tuesday, 13th June 2007, MINI sales in Ireland had hit 1012 units.  Quite incredibly, this surpasses the previous sales record of 1001 units that was achieved in total in 2005!

Nicola Bissett, MINI Manager Ireland, is quoted as saying;

We are delighted to see the MINI success story going from strength to strength in Ireland. The launch of the All New MINI in November 2006 has greatly attributed to the success that MINI is enjoying along with the launch of a 1.4 litre MINI One launched in April of this year.

The MINI hatch model is available in four variants in Ireland: MINI One, MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper D and MINI Cooper S, which are being sold in 13 MINI Dealers across the country. Prices start from €21,950 on the road.

Research by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders has revealed a shift in the new car market in the UK, with hundreds of thousands of buyers moving into cars with lower CO2 emissions. Analysis of sales by road tax bands based on tailpipe CO2 shows 60.7% of new cars sold last year fell within the bands A-D (under 165 g/km) compared with just 43.1% in 2000.

Only 298 band A cars (<100 g/km) were sold last year, a reflection their extremely limited availability, however Band B (101-120 g/km), where the new MINI Cooper D fits in, now have a 4.7% share compared to merely 0.1% in 2000. Band C, where the MINI One at 128 g/km, MINI Cooper at 129 g/km and MINI Cooper S at 149 g/km all now belong, commanded the largest single slice of the market at 31.9%, when in 2000 their share was only 19.2%.

Continue reading New MINI Cooper Highlights Lower Emmisions Trend

Hot on the heels of photographs of a fleet of MINI Clubman at the Zandoort Circuit that hit the web Yesterday, Autogespot.com has what can only be described as a most excellent series of photographs of the new MINI Clubman, including some very detailed interior shots showing the rear door split, cup holders and trim detail.

A couple of the photographs (shown above) reveal the rear seat and trim configuration in great detail, including just how the suicide door cuts into the rear side panel trim and it’s ellipse.  These mimic the front door card ellipses we’re all familiar with from the hatchback MINI.

From these photos you can also see how MINI have replaced the tiny and impractical stowage “pockets” (more like trays) with an even smaller tray and a cup holder each side. Personally we shudder at the thought of someone drinking in the back of our beloved MINI.  That said, it wouldn’t be so terribly British if you couldn’t sit down and have a nice cup of tea after exerting yourself setting up your over-sized four man tent that’s been in retirement since you fell in love with the MINI six years ago!

We strongly encourage you to go and check out the rest of the photographs, they’re the best we’ve seen yet.

How could MINI be so careless, leaving all these new MINI lying around just before such a big MINI event as MINI United at Zandvoort? A cynic might say they actually WANTED these spy shots to get out.

Autovisie have some great shots of the MINI Clubman on the website, taken at the Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands where, apparently, MINI employees were getting familiar with the “Other MINI” ahead of it’s full launch to the media and public later this year.

Zandvoort was also the location of the Driving Dynamics Workshop held by MINI in July last year for a select group of Motoring Journalists where MINI2 took footage for several photo and video exclusives of the second generation MINI.

This weekend Zandvoort also plays host to MINI United, however according to Autovisie the cars where taken back to Munich on a trailer when play time was over. Full report and photographs are available on the Autovisie website here.

Update: By an incredible stroke of fortune it appears Autoweek also had a photographer on the scene to capture some very good shots, including the Clubman in the new metallic brown, aka “Hot Chocolate”.  We’re till not convinced by the colour, but with so many good shots of the new MINI Clubman taken in one day, it really could make you “Believe in Miracles”.    We have to say though, the black tape over the MINI badge.  Not really working if they thought it would throw hard nosed motoring journos off the scent.