Another Car Show, Another Mini
It’s a new tradition at the storied Mini brand: Each car show gets its own dedicated Mini. Swatch tried it with the Swatch car, but could not pull it off. Now, BMW’s Mini is doing it with great success: At the inside, the same movement. At the outside, ever changing designs. Collect all colors!. Of course, Mini won’t break tradition at the Detroit Auto Show, and it will bring you: The John Cooper Works Paceman.
BMW says that “the three-door model is the latest offering from the John Cooper Works sub-brand and, with its race-bred powertrain and chassis technology, brings the promise of a high-octane race feeling to the streets of the urban jungle: extreme driving fun meets the extrovert looks of the world’s first Sports Activity Coupé in the compact segment.” With greater economy of verbiage, the Wall Street Journal claims that it is, “essentialy a two-door version of the Countryman SUV.”
But that’s not all. To really limit the cars to one per auto show, there will be a John Cooper Works GP, a limited edition with only 2,000 copies.
While looking at the pictures of the Paceman, abundantly supplied by BMW’s press department, one has to wonder: What will they do for SEMA?
In case you want to know more about the car, and only if you are mentally steeled for press releases written by admirers of Leo Tolstoy, here is the official communique. Careful, even the “short version” covers two pages.
P.S.: The pictures however are ready for Web 3.0 They come with plenty white space, preventing TTAC’s in-picture ads from doing visual harm.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Agreed, re: MK III "standard" MINI. The one platform is due for an update. Some domestic B- and C-segment cars have interiors at least as nice. Many domestic and foreign B and C cars are quicker and/or better packaged these days. It's time for an update; not platform growth, but an update. A new engine that is both more powerful and more frugal wouldn't be that hard, given the rest of the field (unnatural aspiration as standard FTW!). Agreed also as to variant bloat. Can anyone over six feet tall actually fit in variants other than the Countryman?
Good Lord, is that tired. Glad I bought a 2012 Abarth...