Mini has officially revealed the new Coupe model, which we think is the best variant of the car to date! We actually featured some renderings of the Coupe, which used to be called the Speedster, before but now that the actual car is here we have to say it’s 110 percent better than all of those drawings! And don’t let this Concept word fool you! It will be presented at the IAA in September an will go into production afterward with a 211hp/280nm engine from Mini Cooper JCW. Swell, but you might have to wait until 2011 to get your hands on one!
The Mini Coupe Concept brings together a wide range of features for a truly sporting and ambitious style of motoring. Limited to two seats and following a philosophy of consistent lightweight construction, the car clearly meets all the requirements made of a particularly active and dynamic coupé. Compact dimensions, perfect axle load distribution and a low centre of gravity offer ideal conditions for enhancing the agility typical of Mini to a level never seen before.
Through its design alone, the Mini Coupe Concept brings out all the thrill of individual mobility and the focus on pure driving pleasure. Powerful proportions and dynamic design language evoke a sense of desire and strong appeal, the Mini Coupe Concept offering a particularly undiluted expression of the brand through its sporting and unconventional stance on the road.
This unique new two-seater measures 3,714 millimetres (146.2″) in length and 1,683 millimetres (66.3″) in width. Height is 1,356 millimetres (53.4″). Through these dimensions and its athletic proportions alone, the Mini Coupe Concept stands out from the beginning as a compact and muscular sports machine.
Large wheels and a high waistline already give the Mini, the Mini Clubman and the Mini Convertible a particularly powerful and sporting look, with the black strip around the lower section of the body underlining this compact appearance and short body overhangs front and rear emphasising the athletic stature of the car and bearing testimony to that typical go-kart feeling at very first sight.
All this now comes out even more convincingly in the Mini Coupe Concept, also through the unique flow of the roofline. The glazed section of the passenger cell referred to as the greenhouse, for example, is much lower and even more dynamic than on the brand’s “regular” models.
Luggage capacity is 250 litres or 8.8 cu ft. To use this space most conveniently, the rear end of the Mini Coupe Concept comes with a large and wide-opening tailgate. Hinged above the roof spoiler, the entire tailgate including the rear window swings up gracefully, offering convenient access to the generous luggage space behind the rear seats of the car. And thanks to the low loading sill, accessing the luggage compartment with even heavy and bulky objects is significantly easier.
The Mini Coupe Concept combines the vision of a compact sports car with thrilling agility, on the one hand, and the individual flair and style of the Mini, on the other. Through its entire concept, the car is perfectly designed to offer concentrated driving pleasure of the highest standard. This is borne out not only through the extroverted exterior in its fascinating, sporting look, but also through the interior conceived from the start for active motoring.
Wide-opening doors give the driver and passenger convenient access to the interior, where they enjoy sports seats with strongly contoured side supports for a secure seating position even in particularly fast bends. A three-spoke leather sports steering wheel with multifunction buttons enables the driver to steer precisely into bends and control the audio or communication functions with maximum ease. All other control units, in turn, are arranged ergonomically on the dashboard, taking their frequency of use into account.
The breakdown of the cockpit, the dashboard and centre console again follows that special interior design so typical of Mini. Horizontal lines and air vents placed far to the outside emphasise the sheer width of the instrument panel and, at the same time, the generous style of the interior, the slender centre console giving the driver and passenger maximum legroom. The structure of the door linings so typical of the brand, finally, has also been re-interpreted, with the elliptic main element now completely closed in.
More info on the Mini Coupe will be released at the time of Frankfurt Motor Show 17-27 September 2009.
best looking mini concept in reason times. they haven’t gotten it right with the mini crossover , but this is one too good , hope they put it into production.