Officially Official: Happy 50th - MINI Coupé Concept

Rumors have been swirling for months about what BMW would do on August 26, 2009 for its Mini brand. After all, that is the fiftieth anniversary of the public debut of Alec Issigonis' original Mini. With most of the speculation revolving around either a coupe or some kind of cropped windshield speedster, it turns out the reality was somewhere in between. Unlike the original coupe of the Sixties that simply had a fastback replacement for the standard square-back roof, the new MINI Coupé Concept completely replaces everything from the beltline up. The upright windshield that has been part of the Mini look from day one is finally swept back and a truncated roof covers the remaining two seats.

All pretenses of being a four seater has finally been dispensed with for the new coupe. The shape of the roof indicates that should Mini move ahead with production, and it could easily be replaced by a folding fabric unit to create the anticipated speedster model. What's more, dumping the rear seats means Mini could theoretically add a hefty brace back there restoring some of the structural integrity lost in the standard convertible, or perhaps restore some cargo room as compared to the Cabrio. At this point, it's unknown if those B-pillars are are tinted glass or just big solid blind spots, but visually, the lower half of the car remains pretty standard R56 John Cooper Works.

Although we don't have images of the interior yet, it sounds like it's largely standard Mini, although there are two clocks hanging off the sides of the steering column mounted tachometer much like the so-called Openometer in the convertible. One tells time while the other is a stopwatch for recording laps. The MINI Coupé Concept will be shown publicly at the Frankfurt Motor Show next month alongside the production version of the new Crossover.

2008 Aznom Clubman Chateau Mini

Pleasure, Emotion, Pragmatism, Elegance. These are the basic items of the new interpretation of the Mini Clubman signed Aznom. So the new Mini Chateaux is born, a Mini that, thanks to its name evokes the elegance of the world of the Grands Chateaux; for this reason in its car trunk has found place a 6 bottles (and chalices) wine-cellar completely caulked and shock absorbent built up with the same wood and leather selected for the car.

Concerning the inner features, the match of aged / gaucho leather and alcantara creates a warm vintage atmosphere that embraces the passengers in a special trip of elegance, emotion and tradition. In order to make this car version really special, we chose to couple a more “classic” style leather with an unconventional/eccentric old-looking one.

Regarding the car body , the exterior paint pearly-changeable brown has been matched with a sandy/gold metallic paint selected for the top, for part of bumpers and other details shaping up the whole car style creating an ideally separation between top and body, mostly thanks to the wide side windows that lightens the top part of the car.

The really distinguishing element is the precious wood used internally and externally. Inside (glossy finished) for some details of dashboard and doors. Outside (mat and weather resistant finished) for the top part of back bumper, head lamps frame, underlining so the back doors, emblmatic element, typical of the Mini Clubman version.

So, we wish in this way to dedicate to the legendary Mini Clubman a really brand-new interpretation, worthy of being its modern heiress.

The chose alloy wheels TSW “Pace” are elegant and sporty same time, and thanks to the generous dimensions of 18” equipped with 205/40 tyres Yokohama S-Drive has been put a stress on the peculiar dynamic vocation that all along distinguishes the Mini style.

The Mini Chateaux will be realized in a limited edition of sole 12 really exclusive samples characterized by numbered labels completed with the name of the lucky owners.