MINI Releases New Photos of Coupe Ahead of Frankfurt

The two-seater Coupe is the latest addition to MINI's growing range of models. We've already seen and detailed the pint-sized coupe model but today the British company updated its gallery with a fresh batch of photos. Read more »

New MINI Celebrates 2 Million Units, British PM Joins the Party

One Mini is born every minute - or one minute and eight seconds to be exact. That’s not a joke, but a fact. And that’s how 10 years after production of the new model began in 2001, the two millionth MINI, a White Silver Convertible with a denim roof, rolled off the Oxford Plant production line with British Prime Minister David Cameron sitting behind the wheel. Read more »

U.S. Premiere for MINI's $52,000 Goodwood Edition and Coupe Model at Pebble Beach

This week's Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California is gearing up to be an important event for car enthusiasts as a respectable number of automakers are planning to use the show to unveil their latest products.

While the BMW Group's MINI division won't have anything we haven’t seen before, nevertheless, it will use the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to hold the U.S. debut of the "Mini Inspired by Goodwood" and the all-new Coupe.

The special edition "Mini Inspired by Goodwood", which is in fact inspired by Rolls-Royce, will carry a base price of $52,000 (including $700 D&H), when advanced orders begin later this month.

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This MINI Hides a 5-Foot Snake Under its Hood

It's the last thing you want to find hiding or crawling under the bonnet of your car: a slippery, five-foot long Boa constrictor. But that's exactly what happened to Wayne Hunt, a technician carrying out an MOT on a MINI Cooper at the Bosch Car Service garage in Carringtons of Oxford, UK.

Wayne said that he pushed his hand under the hood to find the safety release catch but "felt something that seemed rather out of place", which turned out to be a five-foot long, five-inch thick snake (raise your hand if you just thought about "that's what she said" joke).

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BMW Group Publishes Results of first Mini E Trial Project

We all know about the merits of electric vehicles but have you ever wondered how it would really be like owning one and driving it on a daily basis?

In collaboration with the British government, the BMW Group launched a trial program in the UK with 40 pure-electric MINI E cars given to 62 citizens and 72 pool users over two six-month periods, from December 2009 until March 2011.

Now that the trial period is over, MINI and the Oxford Brookes University, which undertook the research, have released their findings.

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MINI UK Launches New Soho Editions for Hatch and Convertible

Following the release of the MINI Clubman Soho edition last year, the British automaker decided to name all of its special edition models after London boroughs, districts, streets and landmarks.

As a result, the Soho nameplate has now been applied to the three-door hatchback and soft-top convertible model, both of which will be available in the United Kingdom in Cooper and Cooper D models from now until March 2012.

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CoverEFX Revisits MINI Cooper S R53

The second generation of the new MINI from the BMW Group has been with us since 2007 but the tuning industry has yet to let go of the Mk1 hatch and especially the Cooper S model with the R53 designation.

German tuning house CoverEFX has just launched a new package for the MINI Cooper S Mk1 that includes both cosmetic and performance modifications.

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MINI Files Patent Design for Paceman, the Three-Door Version of the Countryman Crossover

Last January at the Detroit Motor Show, MINI lifted the curtains on the not-so-mini Paceman concept study based on the Countryman crossover. During the presentation of the prototype, BMW board member Ian Robertson had then confirmed that the Paceman will join the MINI line-up in the very near future.

And while we’ve yet to capture a prototype version of the Paceman on the road, today we discovered these official patent images that were filed a couple of days ago.

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Romeo Ferraris Introduces the MINI Countryman 150o Anniversario

The MINI Countryman may be, you know, British, but that hasn’t stopped Italian tuning house Romeo Ferraris from creating a special edition in celebration of Italy’s 150th anniversary as a nation.

The festive MINI is based on the flagship Countryman Cooper S that is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged petrol churning out 184-horses and a peak torque of 240Nm. After Romeo Ferraris technicians remap the ECU and add a new intercooler, a sports air filter and a race-spec exhaust system, the aforementioned numbers grow to 227HP and 328Nm (241.9 lb-ft).

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BMW Readying FWD 1-Series GT for 2014 Launch

*2012 BMW 1-Series Hatchback Pictured above

It’s no secret that BMW is getting ready to adopt a front-wheel drive layout for its smaller models including certain versions of the next generation of the 1-Series. BMW’s decision has already sparked a lot of discussions whether its front-wheel drive products will remain true to the brand’s “ultimate driving machine” motto or an insult to the company’s heritage.

Now it seems that the day we will see the first front-wheel drive BMW is closer than we thought. According to Autocar magazine, the 1-Series GT, which is said to be a more practical version featuring a high-rising tail like the 5-Series GT, will be the first BMW to adopt front-wheel drive. Its launch is scheduled for 2014.

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BMW Boss Says Front-Wheel Drive Bimmers will be “The Ultimate Driving Machine”

The times, they are a-Changing sang Bob Dylan, and they did. And for the most part, it’s for the better –or we’d still be living in caves. But when one of the staples of the motoring world embraces a new philosophy, be prepared for the purists to cry “FAIL”. The news of BMW adopting front-wheel-drive for its future compact models is the perfect example.

For decades Munich has bombarded us with its naturally aspirated in-line engines, be that with 4, 6, 8 or 10 cylinders along with 50/50 perfect weight distribution and the “ultimate driving machine” tag.

Now turbos are all the rage, even in the M-division and they are trickling down to the rest of the lineup in the name of fuel economy and CO2 emissions. But a FWD BMW? Where is this world coming to?

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Sportier MINI Countryman JCW Edition Spied Working out at the Nurburgring

Carscoop’s spy photographers have snapped some of the first images of the sportiest edition yet of the Mini Countryman bearing the John Cooper Works logo. The…high-hoon version of Mini’s urban crossover model will come with all the usual styling upgrades and performance modifications we’re used to seeing in the other JCW models.

First and foremost, the Countryman JCW will get a juiced up version of the Cooper S’ 1.6-liter twin-scroll turbo engine. Being that the Countryman is much heavier than the other Mini JCW variants, engineers may further hone the four-cylinder powerplant to deliver more than 211-ponies it normally produces, possibly approaching the 230HP mark.

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All-Time Sales Record for BMW Group in the First Half of 2011

There’s a lot to be happy about in Munich these days. That’s because the BMW Group has had not only its best month ever as far as sales are concerned, but has also achieved an all-time sales record for the first half of the year.

This June, a total of 165,855 BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce cars were delivered, an increase of 15.9% compared to the same month in 2010 (143,156 units) and also a new record for the Group. BMW sold 134,432 cars (+12.3%) and Mini 31,111 (+34.1%).

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U.K.’s Auto Industry to Young People: Be an Engineer!

Twenty-three of the U.K.’s car and component factories have opened their doors to teachers and students alike in a renewed bid to entice young people into automotive and manufacturing engineering. At the annual summit of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Tony Walker – Toyota Motor Manufacturing U.K.’s deputy managing director – said:

“The industry today is hi-tech. There are no oily rags. There are no smoke stacks. It is an inspirational and an aspirational place to be.”

In fact, carmakers are eager to point out just how fun and lucrative engineering can be. It’s all part of the U.K. government’s push to shift its focus away from financial services after the deadly Global Financial Crisis of 2007.

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New MINI Roadster in John Cooper Works Guise Scooped

With the new Coupe out in the open, MINI is now turning its focus on the soft-top roadster version of its two-seater model, which was snagged here by our scoop photographers in John Cooper Works [JCW] guise while testing on the Nurburgring.

Thanks to the prototype’s minimal camouflage, we see that, like the Coupe, the Roadster model remains rather faithful to the original concept that debuted at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.

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MINI Inspired by Goodwood Carries…Rolls Royce Inspired Price Tag at £41,000 or US$65,700!

Apparently, Aston Martin isn’t the only British automaker to lose contact with reality when it comes to pricing special edition models. Soon after Aston Martin slapped a €48,995 (equal to £44,100 and US$70,700 at the current exchange rates) sticker on its Colette-trimmed Toyota iQ…err… we mean Cygnet, the BMW Group division announced that its new MINI Inspired by Goodwood is priced at £41,000 (€45,600 or US$65,700). Read more »

U-Spy: New MINI Coupe and BMW 1-Series Hatchback Spotted on the Road

Eagle-eyed Carscoop reader Michael from Germany is always on the lookout for any new cars and prototypes on the road. His latest catch is the freshly revealed MINI Coupe in a blue suit with silver stripes, while he also seized a couple of shots of the new BMW 1-Series hatchback, both of which were spotted in Munich.

The new MINI Coupe was only just unveiled online a couple of days ago, so we assume the car pictured is most likely an early production version used for testing.

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New MINI JCW Coupe Racer to Debut at 24h of Nurburgring

Well, that was quick. Just three days after unveiling the MINI Coupe, the firm’s first-ever two-seater coupe model, and even though its flagship version won’t be available to the public before autumn, the company presented the MINI John Cooper Works Coupe Endurance (yes, that’s quite a mouthful, so we’ll just call it JCW) racer.

And, what’s more, its public debut will be in one of the most demanding endurance races of the world, the Nürburgring 24 hours at the legendary Nordschleife, the place which Jackie Stewart has famously christened “the Green Hell”.

The MINI JCW Endurance is powered by a tuned version of the standard 4-cylinder, 1.6-litre engine that features a twin-scroll turbocharger as well as direct injection.

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MINI Takes New Coupé for a Trip Around the World in its First Promo Film

The new two-seat Coupé from MINI has just landed on the internet, but the British firm is already pushing out its new marketing campaign with the release of the first promo clip.

The campaign builds around a new slogan titled “Another Day. Another Adventure.” with the film shot in the style of a movie trailer showcasing the Coupé in exotic locations, such as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Iceland and Hong Kong.

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New MINI Coupe Debuts in Production Trim: 65 High Res Photos and Pricing

No more hiding under conceptual suits and swirly camouflage for MINI’s all-new 2012 Coupé as the firm’s parent company, the BMW Group, officially lifted the veil off the production model on Monday. The sportiest-looking MINI to date is a coupe-flavored version of the hatchback with seating strictly for two.

The Coupé’s appearance was previewed by the 2009 concept car of the same name and is distinguished by the backwards “helmet roof” design and the more sharply raked A-pillars.

The first “three-box” MINI also sits 52mm or 2.05-inches lower than its three-door hatchback counterpart. Notably, it also features an active rear spoiler that extends automatically at 80 km/h (50 mph) to optimize airflow at highway speeds.

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