2008 MINI Crossover Concept Review
Having recently spent a week in a Cooper S JCW, the highlight of numerous MINIs I've enjoyed over the years, it's obvious to me why the iconic British brand has had such monumental success. Its cars are brilliant! It's difficult to have any more fun even if you spend hundreds of thousands more for an exotic ride, but unlike the
sneers of jealousy you'll get in a flashy supercar, you'll start to think you're a bona fide celebrity with all the waves and goodwill that come unsolicited when driving a MINI.
Since its reinvention from the original Mini in model year 2001, the larger but still diminutive subcompact reached its millionth car mark on April 3rd, 2007, after only six years of production. In March of 1965 the original, built from 1959 to 2000, achieved the same total in an almost identical amount of time. Clearly there's a pattern of success, but in today's tumultuous economic situation, how should MINI's parent company keep the momentum going.
One way is to expand the lineup, a business model BMW has enjoyed success with over the years. The German brand has ventured into various SUV/crossover markets on one side of the auto sector and subcompact models not much larger than the MINI on the other. MINI has also expanded its offerings to include a convertible and more recently a more family-friendly extended version dubbed the Cooper Clubman.
While important models, the compact crossover segment has been growing at a phenomenal rate in the US, Europe and around the world, so why not create a MINI SUV?
The thought of such an “abomination” might not have sat well with the late Sir Alec Issigonis, and may further still cause a murmur amongst MINI (or rather Mini) faithful, but it's not like oddball Minis weren't around in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The Austin Mini Van was a popular delivery vehicle in its time, while Mini pickup trucks have been known to show up at and not be turned away from Mini car meets.
So far a MINI SUV/crossover hasn't been attempted, as far as I know, but that hasn't stopped parent company BMW from asking the question, “Why not?” During last month's Paris auto show, MINI showed that very thing, although it appears more like an urban assault vehicle rather than anything you'd want to take into the wild green yonder.
At first it looks as if the design team took the basis of a Cooper Clubman and reworked its details,
but there's a lot more to the Crossover Concept than that. Sure it's grille gets a big, fat chrome surround and three thick chrome ribs that look decidedly truck-like, while aggressively penned wheel arch flares are painted a darker shade and wrap around the front, back and sides of the vehicle, giving it a rugged appearance only upstaged by four extremely brazen six- or seven-spoke alloy rims (there are two totally unique wheels on each side) on off-road style rubber. A unique aluminum engine exhaust vent slashes across each front fender, a mini-Range Rover cue that toughens up the car's look further, while the rear quarter glass is narrowed to opposing slits, creating the illusion of a raised roofline. The taillights feature thickened alloy surrounds too, while the back door gets some unique trim to complement a totally new way to access the cargo area.
Whether or not this is one of the design team's best ideas will remain to be seen,
as its single side-swiveling rear door is similar in configuration to side-hinged rear cargo doors that once proliferated the sport utility segment. Such doors, initially devised to hang a spare tire off of, have fallen out of favor within the SUV and crossover segment due to their cumbersome nature, and the fact that they only work effectively in either right hand or left hand drive markets, depending on their design. Both British and Japanese SUVs with side-swinging doors have endured criticism in North America and Europe for opening towards the street, some of that criticism coming from me. They make loading larger items difficult and potentially dangerous in busy traffic. MINI's answer appears, in photos at least, to swivel around the outside of the crossover's passenger-side rear quarter, creating more space to maneuver large, heavy and otherwise awkward objects around if parallel parked in right-hand drive markets most of Europe, much of Asia and all of the Americas, which might make it a viable option worldwide. Whether or not MINI plans to incorporate such a design in a production crossover will remain to be seen, although the MINI crossover is pretty well a done deal. A MINI press release refers to this crossover precisely as the brand's “fourth body variant,” and since then heavily disguised production models have been spotted and a name has even surfaced, Crossman.
No doubt the suits polled reaction from auto show-goers, and most likely those who would be interested will find this unique take to the crossover, with or without the swiveling rear door, appealing. On the positive the rear door does feature a frameless and retractable rear window for popping in smaller items and/or allowing a full fresh air experience, while the rear seats fold flat for larger cargo via a parallelogram kinematic mechanism that reportedly makes them easier to drop down and then move back into place. And while it doesn't feature a hanging spare tire, MINI has created an “optional” matching transport case for carrying extra cargo, or if
more stowage is required, a roof rail system is “available on the MINI Crossover Concept” that MINI says is “ideal for fitting ski, snowboard and bicycle carriers as well as transport boxes of all sizes.”
Such overhead storage would unfortunately block the view out of the car's folding roof cover, which spans the entire length of the roof. According to MINI the unique top can either be opened from the front or the rear, for creating an airier atmosphere or transporting extremely tall items that otherwise wouldn't fit inside, such as surfboards, cross-country skis or sailboat masts.
Transporting cargo and people in mind, the MINI Crossover Concept is larger than all MINIs (and Minis) that precede it, measuring more than four meters in length,
72.0 inches in width and 62.9 inches in height, with a 102.6-inch wheelbase, and accessible via is four side doors, the rightmost of which are conventionally front-hinged while those on the left side are comprised of a front-hinged door for the driver and a smaller minivan-like lift/sliding door for the back seat occupant with no B-pillar and frameless windows for a wide-open aperture – ideal for new parents accessing a child in a safety seat. They open up a more accommodating interior with four individual seats, the rearmost ones offering 5.1 inches of fore and aft adjustability, all of which are divided by a “universal, multifunction fastening rail” the brand dubs MINI Center Rail, a visual statement as much as a useful device for hanging “unconventional storage options.” Borrowed from the minivan sector, in concept at least, the Center Rail allows “entertainment and telecommunication devices, cupholders, storage units and boxes” to be fastened in place,
safely and securely. Additionally, MINI says that an external music player and other devices, such as “storage boxes and holders for sunglasses, gloves, tickets for parking, coins, writing utensils or a travel guide, as well as all other kinds of holders and supports” can be attached to the Center Rail via a special fastening system, while armrests can be attached front and rear. It's a smart idea that should become reality, although the “special collection of dishes and cups made of unique porcelain” created specifically for this concept won't. Such a shame.
The MINI
Center Globe is another conceptual highlight of this crossover, and probably least likely to make production, which I think is a true shame. Just the same, a concept wouldn't be a concept without something dreamy, and this infotainment interface “sets new standards for the integrated control of entertainment, communication, navigation, and vehicle functions,” says MINI. Situated where the current car features its speedometer, dead center on the dash, and using “ultra-modern laser projection technology” the multi-colored Globe allows the speedometer to spin around its circumference while adding “a further, three-dimensional element with displays stratified on various levels and highlighted to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the driver's and front passenger's requirements,” says MINI. The real benefit of the spherical shape is that both front occupants can access different information simultaneously, with the driver focusing on primary driving information on one side, and the passenger punching in navigation parameters, surfing the internet or dialing in radio settings, for instance. The MINI Center Globe can be actuated via its “touch-sensitive surface, a trackball on the steering wheel, buttons and slide controls in the lower section of the MINI Center Globe, and a keyboard on the front passenger's side extending at the touch of a button from the dashboard”. Yes, I want one.
What's
more, instead of a traditional key or newer style start button, the driver slots a specially designed Keyball into the top of the Globe where it rolls into place. All that's needed is to press it and the engine will start. Press it again and the engine will stop, with the Keyball rolling down into its “housing bay,” where the driver can remove the ball. Yeah, that's not likely going to make production either.
It's touch-and-go whether MINI would include genuine wood trim for the dash of a road-going MINI crossover, although in this concept it extends across the entire width of the car. The door's armrests get the wood treatment too, as do inlays in the footwells, while inlays made of specially hardened, lagoon-blue glass add a cool contemporary look to the door inserts and surround the air vents. Matte-polished aluminum is also used throughout the cabin, especially on the Center Rail system, while the Dark Green leather covering the driver's seat is complemented by Coffee Brown leather on the other seats. All fabric surfaces are Light Grey and Light Brown.
And hardly just cosmetic, the Crossover Concept features four drive wheels, finally filling in that large empty space between the rear wheels with a differential. No doubt, rally fans are bubbling with excitement the world over at the prospect of a WRC-prepped MINI entered into the World
Rally Championship, and an even racier John Cooper Works (JWC) rally-replica spinoff for road use. The car is ripe for such a conversion, and Mini's background in rally racing plus BMW's leadership in the upper echelons of motorsport could be the perfect combination for success. But back to reality, BMW probably doesn't need to expend hundreds of millions more into another FIA-sanctioned racing program during the worst financial meltdown since the GD.
All-wheel drive isn't meant for racing in this particular concept, mind you, but rather light duty off-roading.
MINI reportedly got a warm welcome for its little 4x4 concept, and without putting a "BMW CS Concept" jinx on it, will result in an entirely new market segment for a brand that initially looked like it could only service a very targeted demographic. The new "Crossman" should sell well. Let us know what you think, and if MINI's upcoming SUV would be something you'd consider buying, Center Globe or not.