Auto Design

MINI has released official pictures of the success of the current Cabriolet due to make its first public appearance at the Detroit Motor Show next month. It is good to hear that the BMW Group is sticking to their long term program and will be in Detroit with their little jewel offering open-roof motoring for up to four car enthusiasts. Here is the second generation Cabriolet of the Mini of the third millennium giving us the desire of bright and sunny days, for ourselves and for the car industry.

Difficult times are there to be overcome. Preferably, with brighter ideas, with smaller cars, with better solutions when it comes to energy saving, alternative source and a wiser use of our freedom to buy and drive any car we want.

The new Mini will state once again that car driving can be fun, reasonable and safe. I have one idea to get the car industry back on their feet very quickly: give car drivers and industry three years to get rid of their largest trucks (medium and light SUV are all right) being used and registered as automobiles and give them an incentive to replace them with much more reasonable automobiles. The highest the first year, the lowest the third year. Three years is too short? Make it five, but do it now!

The new Mini does not need incentives to sell in the US or around the world though. Since it was launched, it has been a commercial success and in the U.S.A. market simply confirmed that.

Under the circumstances, what should the new Mini offer or change? Not much really. With the product concept well established, designers and engineers at Mini only had to improve it, again and again. This is what they have done. Just delivering a better Mini Cabriolet.

It style is even more attractive now that the funny hinges in the back are gone. Inner-mounted four-pivot joints for the luggage compartment lid now allow for a harmonious and smooth look of the wide rear end. The soft top is a bit lower on the rear end. The overall look is more refined and the silhouette is more fluent, with smoother from both and rear-ends. The resting safety rollover bar is lower, more integrated, and virtually hidden away out of sight. Front and rear light design is as on the current Mini models.

According to MINI, «the innovative, absolutely unique principle of a single piece safety bar allows optimum visibility to the rear and facilitates visibility to the side. A further advantage is the option to integrate an exceptionally large through-loading storage option between the luggage and passenger compartments.»

The luggage area greatly benefits of the crash-optimised body structure with newly conceived floorpan and A-pillars with side-sills appropriately reinforced for a convertible.  These improvements matches with the “Easy-load System” providing an even larger opening, lockable rear seat backrests folding down individually and parcel shelf pivoting fastening in two different positions.

At launch time the  new Mini cabriolet will be offered with the latest four-cylinder, with Twin-Scroll turbochargers, petrol engines  or fully variable valve management, credited of 88 kW/120 hp for the MINI Cooper Convertible and 128 kW/175 hp for the MINI Cooper S Convertible.

Both engine variants comes with fuel economy and emissions technology innovations such as Auto Start Stop, Brake Energy Regeneration and gearshift point indicator.

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