Mac Mini 7 1 Year
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Mini (stylised as MINI)[1] is a British automotive brand founded in Oxford in 1969, owned by German multinational automotive company BMW since 2000, and used by them for a range of small cars assembled in the United Kingdom, Austria, Netherlands (until 16 February 2024) and Germany. The word Mini has been used in car model names since 1959, and in 1969 it became a brand in its own right when the name "Mini" replaced the separate "Austin Mini" and "Morris Mini" car model names.[2][3] BMW acquired the brand in 1994 when it bought Rover Group (formerly British Leyland), which owned Mini, among other brands.[4]
The original Mini was a line of British small cars manufactured by the British Motor Corporation (BMC), which in 1966 became part of British Motor Holdings. This merged with Leyland Motors in 1968 to form British Leyland.[5] In the 1980s, British Leyland was broken-up and in 1988 Rover Group, including Mini, was acquired by British Aerospace.[5] Mini models included the Morris Mini-Minor and the Austin Seven, the Countryman, Moke, 1275GT and Clubman.[5] Performance versions of these models used the name Cooper, due to a partnership with racing legend John Cooper. The original Mini continued in production until 2000.
In 1994, Rover Group was acquired by BMW, being broken up in 2000 with BMW retaining the Mini brand.[6] Development of a modern successor to the Mini began in 1995 and an entirely new Mini model was launched in 2001 by BMW. The current Mini range includes the Hardtop/Hatch/Convertible (three-door hatchback) and Countryman (five-door crossover).
The Mini Clubman, Coupe and Roadster are assembled at BMW's Plant Oxford in Cowley, England.[7] The Mini Convertible and the second generation of the Countryman were assembled at VDL Nedcar in Born (Netherlands) till 16 February 2024. The Mini 3-door Hatch/Hardtop is assembled at both plants,[8] with the 5-door being exclusively assembled at Oxford.[9] The Paceman was until 2016 assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria.[10] A total of 301,526 Mini vehicles were sold worldwide in 2012.[11]
Mini vehicles have been active in rallying and the Mini Cooper S won the Monte Carlo Rally on three occasions, in 1964, 1965 and 1967. Mini has participated in the World Rally Championship since 2011 through the Prodrive WRC Team.
The original two-door Mini was a small car produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. It is considered an icon of the 1960s,[5][13][14] and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (which allowed 80% of the area of the car's floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers.[15] The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th Century, behind the Ford Model T.[16][17]
In the 1990s, BMW was seeking to broaden its model range through the addition of compact cars and SUVs. This sparked a series of compact car concept vehicles from the company during the early 1990s. The first were the E1 and Z13, powered by an electric motor and a rear-mounted 1100 cc BMW motorcycle engine, respectively.[1]
In early 1994, BMW acquired the Rover Group from British Aerospace, which owned Mini, among other brands. BMW insisted that even a compact model must feature traditional BMW characteristics (such as rear wheel drive) to uphold the company's standards and image. The "MINI" brand, however, did not share these standards and BMW saw this as an opportunity to create a competitively priced, yet premium, compact car. This formed BMW's plan to launch the premium BMW 1 Series and the mid-range Mini.[1]
It was at around this time that Rover, too, was working on a successor to the original Mini. Its first concept was the ACV30 which was unveiled at the 1997 Monte Carlo Rally. The name was partially an acronym of Anniversary Concept Vehicle, whilst the '30' represented the 30 years that had passed since a Mini first won the Monte Carlo Rally. The vehicle itself was a two-door coupe powered by a rear-mounted MG F engine.[1]
Just months later, Rover released another concept, this time, a pair of vehicles called Spiritual and Spiritual Too. These vehicles were a more realistic attempt to create a modern Mini, and coincided with BMW's official creation of the Mini project. Although the two-door and four-door pair wore Mini badges, both vehicles remained purely concepts.[1]
In 1998, BMW set out on creating the production Mini. The first aspect that was considered was the design, which was chosen from 15 full-sized design studies. Five of these designs came from BMW Germany, another five from BMW Designworks in California, four from Rover and one from an outside studio in Italy. The chosen design was from BMW Designworks and was designed by American designer, Frank Stephenson. Stephenson penned the new Mini One R50 and Mini Cooper leading the team which developed the E50 car in Munich (parallel development in England by the team at Rover having been dropped in 1995).[21] This design, being a city car, also fitted into BMW's plan of two compact cars, leaving the supermini class for the BMW 1 Series. After the launch of the new Mini, Stephenson told automotive magazine Autocar:[1]
The last Mark VII Mini, and the 5,387,862nd and final original two-door Mini to be produced, a red Cooper Sport, was built at the Longbridge plant in October 2000.[22][23] The car was driven off the production line by the pop singer Lulu, and was subsequently housed at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, alongside the first Mini Mark I ever made.[23] The new generation Mini Hatch/Hardtop went on sale in July 2001 and was an immediate sales success.[24]
At the North American International Auto Show in January 2011, BMW announced that it would be extending the Mini range with the launch of two new two-door sports crossover vehicles based on the Mini Paceman concept car, with a coupe version planned to enter production in 2011 and a roadster to follow in 2012.[28][29] In June 2011, BMW announced an investment of 500 million in the UK over the subsequent three years as part of an expansion of the Mini range to seven models.[30][31]
Mark I Minis can be identified by exterior door hinges, sliding door glass, tail lights smaller than later cars and a "mustache" grille.The A-series engine came in a wide range of capacities, initially as an 848 cc, but later the 997, 998, 1071 and 1275 cc engines were added.The non-Cooper cars had gearboxes with the "magic wand" selector, with 4-speeds (no synchromesh on 1st) while the Coopers has a remote shift selector.An automatic, 4-speed transmission was introduced in 1965.In 1960, a 2-seater van was launched, along with an estate, both sharing a longer wheelbaseIn 1961 the pickup was introduced, also based on the longer wheelbase
The Mark IV, launched in 1976, introduced a front rubber mounted subframe with single tower bolts and larger bushes in the rear frame. In addition twin stalk indicators were introduced with larger foot pedals, and from 1977 onwards the rear indicator lamps had the reverse lights incorporated in them.
For the Mark VI, launched in 1990, the engine mounting points were moved forward to take 1,275 cc power units, and includes the HIF carburettor version, plus the single point fuel injected car which came out in 1991. The 998 cc power units were discontinued. Internal bonnet release were fitted from 1992.
The Mark VII, launched in 1996, was the final version of the original two-door Mini. For this model twin point injection with front-mounted radiator was introduced, along with a full-width dashboard and driver's side airbag.
The hatchback/hardtop Mini was the first model of the new generation Mini, introduced in 2001, and was back then known as simply Mini. It was available in Cooper, Cooper S and One variations at launch. In many European markets, the Mini One was powered by a 1.4-litre I4[39] version of the Tritec engine but all other petrol powered Minis used the 1.6-litre I4 version. The Cooper S and JCW models included a supercharger intake system. This generation of minis was the only production model to have one, replaced by a turbocharger from the second generation onwards.[40][41]
The names Cooper and Cooper S followed the names used for the sportier version of the classic Mini, which in turn come from the involvement of John Cooper and the Cooper Car Company. The Cooper heritage was further emphasised with the John Cooper Works (JCW) range of tuning options that are available with the Mini. John Cooper also created a one-off racing model of the Mini Cooper S named the Mini Cooper S Works. This car featured many extras which help to improve performance, such as a racing exhaust and air filter as well as uprated suspension. The car also had one-of-a-kind 17-inch (430 mm) racing wheels.[42]
The Mk I Mini One, Cooper and Cooper S used some version of the reliable, Brazilian-built Tritec engine, co-developed by Chrysler & BMW; the Mini One D used a Toyota-built 1ND-TV diesel engine. In August 2006, BMW announced that future engines would be built in the UK, making the car essentially British-built again; final assembly took place at Oxford, and the body pressings were made in nearby Swindon at BMW's Swindon Pressings Ltd subsidiary.
The last Mk I variant was the Mini Cooper S with John Cooper Works GP Kit: a light-weight, quasi-race-prepped John Cooper Works model. Hand-finished by Bertone in Italy, it was offered as a limited-production run of 2,000 cars during the 2006 model year, with 444 of those originally intended for the UK market (although ultimately, 459 were sold).
Mini introduced an all-new second generation of the Hardtop/Hatch model in November 2006, on a re-engineered platform incorporating many stylistic and engineering changes. It utilises the Prince engine, the architecture of which is shared with PSA Peugeot Citron and is designed to be more cost-effective and fuel-efficient, and is manufactured at the BMW Hams Hall engine plant in Warwickshire, United Kingdom.[43] The development and engineering was done in Munich, Germany at BMW Group headquarters, and by external third parties.[21][44][45] Although the new model looks very similar to its predecessor, every panel was different and new safety requirements resulted in the overall length increasing by 60 mm (2.4 in).
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