Mini News

The mini Mini is designed to shuttle track and field projectiles (like javelins, hammers, shot and discuses) back to competing athletes, saving valuable time during events. With a load capacity of eight kilograms, each car can carry a single hammer, discus or shot, or two javelins back to a competing Olympian.  Sprayed in True Blue paint with the London 2012 Games logo and a white roof, each mini Mini is a 1/4 scale replica of a Mini Cooper hatchback. A removable sunroof panel allows access to the equipment storage area, although we’d imagine that hauling javelins requires the use of an optional roof rack.  Each of the model cars is powered by a 10 horsepower electric motor with 35 minutes of usage time per battery pack. Grass tires, heavy duty shocks and vented disc brakes ensure that Mini's latest electric offering is capable of fielding whatever chores are thrown at it. Literally.  The RC Minis have likely been seeing heavy use throughout the games, with each covering an estimated 6km per four-hour shift. Over the nine days of the Olympic Games, each will rack up some 54km of hard use. There are no plans to put the mini Mini into production, although we’re fairly certain that Mini aficionados have already made generous offers to purchase the three built for the London 2012 Olympic Games.  

See the effort and technology that goes into making that one perfect image. Filmed at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France.

Mini recently gave a global green light to the cute Clubvan concept, and has also cleared the way for full-scale production of the Paceman.The production version of the Paceman should be unveiled at the Paris motor show in September and the first Australian deliveries are likely around April of 2013. Pricing is yet to be set but, since the Paceman body sits over the mechanical package of the Countryman, it's likely to have showroom stickers starting around $45,000."Yes, the Paceman has been give a go-ahead. We'll get it early next year," confirms Piers Scott, spokesman for Mini in Australia. "Production is slightly delayed. So it's end of quarter one, start of quarter two, for us."The Paceman is the latest in a long series of successful motor show teases intended to stretch the Mini brand. But it's not the start of something new on the size or mechanical front, as originally believed, just another stretch of the existing Mini package.It's the seventh individual model in the current Mini family, although there is no chance of the Clubvan making it to Australia because of the cost of 'Australianising' the cargo barrier set permanently into the space behind the rear seats. This has now emerged as the 'homologation' drama blocking any local certification, although dealers were also only prepared to commit to fewer than two-dozen sales."Clubvan is definitely not on the radar for us," Scott repeats to Carsguide. "We believe we would only sell a very small number here. It doesn't warrant the cost associated with local homologation." The Paceman plan is much more aggressive for Australia because of its sporty looks and, thanks to the Countryman chassis, two adult-sized rear seats.It's upscale position means it is only likely to be sold in Australia with the Cooper S and John Cooper Works engine packages, together with sports chassis tuning. "It's a sportier two-door model. It's based on the Countryman, with the longer wheelbase, but with very sporty tuning. "Yes, it will have a slight price premium over an equivalent Countryman," Scott says.He says Range Rover has proven, with its city-focussed Evoque, that there is a strong customer base for two and four-door versions of the same basic body. "In the case of Paceman, there will be greater visual differentiation from the Countryman than is the case with the land Rover models. It's wider and squatter."So, who is a potential Paceman buyer? "Where Mini customers in the past were constrained by size, we're now able to tick all the boxes for driving and the ability to put two people in the back or chuck a surfboard on the top. It meets the lifestyle needs. We're taking it into more sportier territory than the Countryman," says Scott.And what about engine choices? "There will certainly be more than one engine, but the engine line-up is yet to be confirmed. We see the main demand in the sportier models, so in a Cooper S and JCW package, if those are made available." 

The chic new delivery van was inspired by the Morris Mini van from the 1960s and joins a new-age Mini range that continues to expand on all fronts. There are 17 individual Mini models on sale in Australia, from the Ray hatch to the Cooper All4 Countryman, but the Clubvan is not looking good for local deliveries. "With the limited sales potential and some homologation issues we won't be launching in Australia," the global head of sales and marketing for BMW Group, Ian Robertson, reveals to Carsguide during an exclusive interview in Munich. Robertson is still upbeat about the Clubvan and says it is likely to be a sellout in Europe following the successful preview in March. "The reception after Geneva was very positive, particularly in the traditional home in UK where many small business owners saw it as the first premium offer in this type of vehicle as well as looking great," he says. The Clubvan is set for production in 2013 and is firm for the UK, Europe and the USA. It will take on a unique role as a trendy workhorse to fulfil a similar role to the Nissan S-Cargo that starred briefly as an inner-city delivery device through a solid run of 'grey market' imports from Japan that started in the late 1990s. It uses the same body design as the Clubman, which means twin read doors and an extra side-opener behind the driver - fine for Europe but not Australia -with the rear windows blacked out. There are only two seats with a cargo barrier behind them. Surprisingly, at least for a Mini, there are only four body colours available - white, blue, black and... British Racing Green. There are a variety of potential engines for the Clubvan, including one turbo diesel, with three trim levels. The full production version of the Clubvan will be shown at the Paris Motor Show in September, but even another positive reaction is not likely to reverse the no-go decision from BMW Group.  "As we will not be getting the car homologated for the Australian market customers would not be able to order the car," says company spokesman, Piers Scott. "As the only premium offering within a very niche category we didn’t see a strong business case for this car. "Will it be assessed once it's available? We don’t expect to be changing this position."  

They've taken the soberly-coloured Rocketman Concept from the 2011 Geneva motor show and tarted it up in new red, white and blue livery of the British flag. And it doesn't stop at the duco. The glass roof gets red trim to echo the Union Jack, with matching red pinstriping on the polished black 18-in wheels. Red and white bezels accent the air vents, speakers and door pulls, and the 3+1 (+ an extra if needed) seating layout is trimmed in blue leather. To mark parent brand BMW's involvement in the 2012 London Olympics, The centre cubby is inscribed with figures playing that most British of games, basketball. And the door inserts are scribbled with the name of every Olympic city. If it all sounds a bit garish, you only have to think back a few weeks to the Jubilee mugs and tea towels to realise the Rocketman doesn't stack up too badly as a rolling souvenir.    

The new look is dominated by a large flat front with huge headlights on the end of a longer nose for pedestrian protection.Carparazzi says the cabin loses the centre-mounted speedo that has been a retro link since the sixties icon was re-birthed by BMW Group. 

The new unit is based on the one in the 1.6-litre Mini Cooper S, with twin-scroll turbocharger, direct fuel-injection and variable valve control. The turbocharger is tweaked for extra boost and the engine has been fitted with a new high-performance exhaust system – finished with twin stainless-steel tailpipes. Engine outputs are 155kW of power at 6000rpm, and 260Nm of torque from 1850-5500rpm, with 280Nm available for a few seconds on overboost between 2000-5200rpm. It will be mated to a six-speed manual transmission as standard, but there will still be the option of a six-speed automatic with a manumatic mode and shift paddles mounted on the steering wheel. Mini says the new engine gets a weight-saving aluminium block and bearing mounts, lighter crankshaft, reinforced pistons and a high-strength cylinder head. The manual transmission gets a fuel saving stop-start system, and the load on the electrical system is reduced by brake energy recapture with the alternator disengaging at high revs – combining to cut your fuel burn by about 500ml per 100km.  

Unveiled on the weekend at the Mini United festival in France, the Mini JCW GP will go on sale later this year in a limited run of 2000 cars.

... Paceman, which has been developed from a motor show tease into a car that could be sold as the Countryman Coupe.It's another of the more practical Mini models - definitely less wild than the Coupe - and is certain to join the line down under.