No, it's Berman.

 

there is a huge differance:

It does not say "ford" in the inside of the drivers door in an Aston Martin, But it sure says BMW in a Mini!

those examples are only from a financial point of view. BMW CREATED FROM SCREATCH the new mini.

 

TR3!!! Anteken is mah mayun! I so miss the hassles of owning a Triumph!

 

Ah Tattman, the "TR Experience" tends to get better the further away you are from it I think. As much as I loved my TRs (and who would own one who didn't?), when I think back honestly, cars are much better today. I remember the mechanical feel of the shifter, the growl of the engine, the starter button, the joy of putting my hand flat on the ground whilst sitting in the car BUT I also remember spending all day trying to get the ONE wire that connected all the gauges to stop smoking when I tried to hook it up...everytime it left my wife stranded (that car hated her), becoming a live resister between the coil and ground (I don't recommend that), finding brass shavings in my transmission oil heralding the end of my overdrive (whose idea was it that a complicated gizmo like an overdrive was better than a simple extra gear anyway?). Would I do it again? Of course, I've owned several haven't I? Because for all the problems....when it was running right, you felt like a DRIVER, even if yo weren't that good...and maybe that's why we all love the MINI...the attention and the feel of the car...but without all the "extras" a real British car would provide.

So I agree that the personality of the car and what you want from it will determine if it's British or German, or Brazilian, or whatever. Doesn't really matter does it? The MINI exists and we love them...that kind of devotion is DEFINATELY British.

Oh, and Piper, the bit about the MINI being as English as the Royal Family...some of us anglophiles got it....I laughed for 5 minues.

Cheers and LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!

 

good point. however, a lot of car companies share parts (from a financial point of view that makes sense). i know, i know, most parts in the MINI say BMW. i still believe at the root, the MINI is a British car produced by a German company. Just like Italian food made in America is still Italian.

With the world economy as it stands, there is no black and white. Maybe the Zonda is completly made in Italy or the Ferrari... but 99% of cars made in the world these days get their parts from where it is most efficient (aka cheapest). The wiring harness from the MINI is made in Romania. I like what lot 15 said about the MINI being a "world car," but they all are, aren't they?

 

It started out British, hooked up with a German, and finished up with a Brit!

That makes mine Bermish!

 

ok, lets get back to the basics here...


Whatever product manufactured by a german company makes it a german product. there is no debate about that.

The only reason the car we drive is called a Mini, is because BMW needed a well known name to give it's new small car. they wanted to get in a lower scale market (lower then the 3 series) with a small car that would attrack a younger more "peppy" crowd. So, they paid a couple of million dollars and baught the NAME, thats all. JUST THE NAME.

the BMW Mini was conceived to compete with the Golf, 206... and on and on.

 

If this is the only reason, why go to all the trouble and expense of building it in England? Certainly there are better or at least cheaper places to build the car. They bought more than a name....and they are smart enough to know it...and to exploit it. The British connection is more than skin deep.....this auto was started by the Brits (back in the prebuyout days) and finished by the Germans. Gives the best of both worlds. But the Germans did know to play up the British Heritage .... look how popular it is in England.

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!

 

"If this is the only reason, why go to all the trouble and expense of building it in England"?

I read somewhere the MINI name purchase came with an agreement for the factory to be in England. The Rover group negotiation included creating jobs for their workers before the name was handed over.

My '04 has the Brittish Midland tranny, world suppliers yes, but some of the hard parts are still Brittish. I'm glad the QC and assembly of these "frankin-cars" is Euro. If they shoot the factory down to Mexico, like the US favors, that changes the whole movie.

 

there is some good reading on this subject in Partrick Paternie's book "The New Mini."

 

Logical from one perspective, but not necessarily so.
They bought the brand...somewhat different, imo. Whatever strategies or counter-strategies were taking place at BMW, I believe there was an honest attempt made to build a real, updated Mini that was true to the essence of what Minis were all about. Seems to me they succeeded.

 

They bought more than the name and the brand.........read from the book I referenced....

 

[QUOTE=MGCMAN]British, with a German grandfather, two English grandmothers,

Sort of sounds like the Royal Family.

 

Thanks to Rick Anderson posting his San Diego British car show pics I thought some more about this. I have owned 5 MGs, 1 Jag XKE (69) and 1, 911.


My Mini reminds me a lot more of my 911 that either the Jag or the MGs. I ask you this ....what British car does the Mini drive like?

 

good point!

 

can you really compare the new MINI to a 69 Jag and MGs? what year was your 911?

 

Does the MINI not drive like a Mini?

 

hell no.


it drives like a sporty german hatchback.

 

i think you're the only one that got my joke.

 

Well.. If I were to only go with the comments I’ve received from non-Mini owners. Not once has anyone ever asked is that a German car. To date when a statement or question was made regarding Mini. It has always been “ Isn’t that one of those little British cars?”

 

The 911S was a late 70s

My point is that I can't think of a British car from then or now and I have driven many from "then", that the Mini feels and drives like.....it feels much more like a German car...... The looks are a whole different matter.

Stephenson was hired by Ferrari (according to the article that i read) because he did such a fine job of updateing the look while not alienating the purists. Ferrrari is concerned with these same isssues.

The "New Mini" book really does a nice job of explaining BMWs motivation. BMW did want a new enrty level small car that would not interfere with the "3" or the "1" which they had coming. They wanted to get people who they could step up into their other models.....It is all about BMW.... I started to quote from some sources but I don't type fast enough.

 

Thats good, lets listen to what the people that know the least about Mini's have to say about it...

For sure they think it's "that little british car" since the original mini was /still is much more popular then the new one.

 

That's because it's called a MINI. If it were called a Z2.5 there'd be no way it would be considered British by anyone.

 

Gday thereEven thou the mini is indeed a german car bmw australia seems to have marketed it is a british car.a lot of people are very surprised when informed that the mini is now made by bmw.i do rather like the idea that it is an english car seeing as the original one was made there but bmw do own the mini and bmw are german.where it is made shouldnt matter just that luckily for us someone did.

 

I think you have the cart before the horse: when BMW bought Rover , they had no clue that the the MINI marque was part of the package.Only due to the efforts of three American hotshots did the MINI resurect itself, but LONG after the purchase of the Oxford plant. This info from an Autoweek article that first spoke to the possibility of a revamp of the 5.4 million classic minis that permeate the world market( second in sheer numbers to the ford model t) Jock