US is not the world, and not even the largest car market anymore (that is now China). BMW AG sold ~2.2M cars last year, with ~400K in the US. 15% of the world market. MINI USA sales were -15% done y/y, so getting bigger has clearly not worked for MINI brand:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...300015792.html

The rest of the world will gobble up MINI Minor, and I will gladly consider one as a daily driver/winter beater.

Sorry, MINI is not a premium brand.
Not at all.
F56 is getting close (R53 and R56 were far off), but BMW itself doesn't count MINI #s in its annual premium vehicle sales competition with Audi and Merc.

If MINI Minor will materialize as a sub 2700 lbs sub $15K fun little coupe, it will fly off the dealers floors.

a

 

BMW has never enjoyed the reputation for quality/reliability that Toyota has.

 

It's a premium hatchback. It was never meant to compete with Mercedes and Audi, it was intended to be a step up from all other hatchbacks on the market. The F56 is really the only one that has accomplished it though, IMHO (having owned every generation).

 

I remind you of the Aston Martin Toyota program that produced the $51,500 AM City Car... the Cygnet, it was a re-bodied Yaris a $15,000 car.

Great idea, bad execution.

 

I love these cars! If it wasn't for the numb auto tranny and weak engine they would have been a blast to drive. I work at a Toyota/Scion dealership and if you get one of these with the TRD Lowering springs and swaybar, they handle quite well. You'd be suprised. It's just that dang junk tranny and poochy engine that killed the feel of it.

 

Looks like a Toyota designed Mini copy... I don't care for the lines of the rear windows and flat spots on the side panels.

 

I'm pretty sure it's an iQ.

I like it :shrug:

 

A lot of us old guys are resistant to change and I read the same sort of posts on other auto forums. Car companies are in the business of making money and that drives development and design. Economy of scale is how they produce great toys at (almost) affordable prices. If they sell 50,000 cars to "newbies" and 1,000 to "oldies" they are going to build the "newbie" car. They are looking at all the data and then they will design and build a car that will sell the best and make the most profit for them. I wonder about small as the coupe and the roadster are being dropped from the line. I really liked the roadster, but it was just too small for two people on a trip, the hardtop is perfect with the back seat down for luggage, etc. And, then you can take it out and put it on the track or backroads for some major fun!

 

You are correct sir!

 

If I am not mistaken, the purpose of that Aston Martin iQ is that at the time, each auto manufacturer's entire lineup of vehicles had to achieve an average minimum mpg of I don't know what, and an average maximum CO2 emissions of I don't know what. But Aston Martin only makes big bad V8's and V12's so they needed that iQ in their lineup to meet those minimum requirements, which I believe were set by Europe.

 

Yup, that is correct.

Anyway, as far as the Minor/Rocketman goes, I hope it's successful in Europe because I don't see it selling well in the US. It's a cool idea and many MINI diehards have been asking for a smaller MINI, but I can almost guarantee no one will buy it here due to its impracticality.

 

The iQ was Toyota's take on a city car, and in this context the CVT made sense and the engine was quite capable. Now, when MINI builds a city car the whole equation will change. If Toyota's vision of a city car was more like MINI's they might have sold more cars here...but it wasn't and they didn't. That's fine, it was a noble experiment.

While Americans may not really get the "city car" concept, they surely get the concept of fun, quick and darty and that's the kind of city car MINI will bring us, if they bring us anything at all.

 

You're implying that China would somehow gobble up the MINI Minor because they are like "the rest of the world", and I'd like to tell you that they very much aren't. Chinese buying patterns trend towards the luxuriously oversized, not that different from the U.S. actually. It'd probably be as much a niche vehicle there as it would be stateside.

Re: your points about MINIs YoY sales faltering because "getting bigger has clearly not worked" and about MINI not being a premium brand... these things may be part of your opinion, but they're not substantiated by the facts, nor by BMW's vision for the brand.

As far as building any type of car sub-$15k... 😳😂

 

I did a doubletake on the proposed pricing too: $14,500 to $16,000. Hard to imagine but we'll see.

 

FWIW, I love this sketch from the March 2015 issue of Car:

 

+1! I'm looking forward to this Hopefully it'll end up at least close to what they're saying. Too bad its probably 4 or 5 years away

 

In another thread started by JCWLewis, there is a picture floating around that is supposedly from Gran Turismo 6. It's a pic of a JCW version of the MINI Minor / Rocketman. From what it shows, it looks pretty good








Looks pretty good! I know its still a few years away, but I really hope this still happens!

 

If MINI is able to maintain that shape, combine it with a light and engaging chassis, and give us a manual transmission, I'm in. This would put me back on the MINI bandwagon.

 

Unfortunately that's a concept based on the new Clubman.

I do think that those headlights and front end (without the ridiculous racing front fascia) would look pretty fantastic.

On another note: I currently own an R56 MCS and would be very interested in a Minor/Rocketman S. Being that the F56 is more powerful than the R56, why not stuff the N18 engine into the Minor S or make a JCW-type version of the new base 3 cylinder used in the F56 Justa.

 

Yeah, I just saw they released some more photos and a video. And its a very race inspired Clubman at that! Oh well, we can still dream.

But on the other note, I think a tuned 1.5T they put in the Justa would make a great engine for a JCW MINI Minor! Get about 175hp and have a car that weighs less than 2500lbs would be a dream.

We will have to wait (probably a long time) and see what becomes of this venture!

 

Giddyup!

 

Not sure how many of you have actually driven a F56 Cooper, but the 1.5L 3-cyl AS IT IS is fantastic. Put it in a smaller, lighter car like the Minor and I'm happy!

If they decide to go forward with the Minor, this would make the most business sense rather than introducing a whole new engine variant when they have a great, compact, torque-y, fuel efficient engine in the B38.

 

I'm just glad (and relieved) that the MINI Minor is getting some serious discussion/attention from MINI after seeming only another rumor for so long.

 

^This^. and yes, I am holding my breath.