Better Late Than Never.
26th August 2009
The Mini. British? German? Either way the Mini is an iconic car that’s been with us since the original design 50 years ago, and it has always been the definitive ’small car’. The Mini has changed over the years, getting fatter (and uglier, perhaps), incorporated more doors and practicality (Mini Clubman), and there’s even a Mini Convertible. But in the 50 years of Mini, none of the three companies that made the Mini (Austin, BMW, and of course Mini themselves) have never ever built a ‘Mini Coupe’. A small sports car of some kind. All they’ve done so far is tuned up the Mini Cooper to combine its legendary handling capabilities with an impressive amount of power, and called it the JCW (John Cooper Works). So if you wanted a fast Mini, that was your only option.
Until now. Mini has just revealed its ‘Mini Coupe Concept’. As the name suggests, it’s a pre-production concept at the moment, designed to celebrate Mini’s 50th anniversary, but here’s hoping it makes it to production.
Mini Coupe Concept
The first thing you’ll have noticed is the roof, which kind of looks like a baseball cap worn backwards. Well that’s because it’s supposed to look like that. Apparently the chief designer Gert Hildebrand claims he got the inspiration for the roof when he saw his teenage son wearing a cap backwards. There are some things you perhaps should keep to yourself, Gert. Doesn’t do you any favours!
Much of the familiar Mini design is featured here. The bug-eyed headlights, the air scoop in the bonnet, the rear lights, the front grille… quite a lot of it is very much ‘Mini Cooper’. However, remember how the Mini Cooper is widely regarded as one of the best ‘Driver’s Cars’ money can buy? Yeah, well this is set to be even better. It’s 5cm shorter and lower overall than the Cooper JCW, and will share the same 208bhp 1.6L turbo engine as the JCW. It’s also around 100kg lighter than the JCW thanks to only being a two-seater instead of four, and features a rear spoiler on the roof to help keep the arse pinned to the road at speed. The windscreen is also more slanted for more aerodynamic improvements.
So lower centre of gravity, lighter, better aerodynamics, and with the same surprising power as the JCW. No official performance figures yet, but it’s expected to hit 60mph in around six seconds, and a top speed of around 140mph, perhaps more.
Rivals? Well again, there’s no word on whether or not it’ll even reach production yet, let alone prices (though the Germans insist it will, and Mini usually are true to their word when it comes to concept designs), but you’re looking at anywhere between the Peugeot RCZ (more on that later) and the Audi TT.
Good news is if they build it, you have about two years to save up for it. It won’t reach Britain until at least 2011.
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Love the new concept Mini. Great article.
[Reply]
Comment by Karen — August 26, 2009 @ 2:10 pm