ICONIC Mini potato with dill sour cream WITH PURE GO-KART FEELING. Rooted in our heritage, our mission is to deliver cars and mobility solutions that heighten city life for customers today and tomorrow. MINI is straightforward, sincere and authentic. MINI blends creativity with cleverness, offering an open platform for people, design and a vibrant urban life.

MINI’s spirited attitude to life inspires people. 7 cm longer than the original 1959 Mini? 10 million MINIs have been sold since the birth of the brand in 1959? MINI in 109 different countries worldwide? 28 supple female gymnasts fit in the new MINI?

Seven important milestones for the MINI brand. In 2008, 612 MINI E cars were modified, largely by hand, and, from 2009 on, road-tested by private and business customers. The BMW Group wanted to see how an average driver would cope with the unique aspects of an electric car in everyday situations. The first MINI John Cooper Works. The first MINI John Cooper Works and MINI John Cooper Works Clubman celebrate their world premiere at the International Motor Show in Geneva in 2008. These are the first two models released by MINI under the MINI John Cooper Works name. A year after the sale of the Rover Group, the new MINI celebrated its world premiere under the BMW Group umbrella in summer 2001: The brand launched its comeback with MINI One and MINI Cooper models.

After more than thirty years, the brand decided to offer open-top driving. Inspired by the success of the Lamm Cabriolet, Rover brought out its own convertible in 1993. The luxury version based on the Mini Cooper became the most expensive Classic Mini model. The Clubman Series was introduced in October 1969 and at 11 centimetres longer than the Classic Mini became one of the most modern-looking variants in the line-up. In 1957, Alec Issigonis designed the first Mini in response to the oil crisis. His directions from the company were to create maximum space with minimal dimensions, room for four people, impeccable driving characteristics and low petrol consumption.

The MINI brand in social media. For the Feedtime album, see Cooper-S. The original Mini is considered an icon of 1960s British popular culture. This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. The Italian version of the Mini which was sold under the Innocenti marque was produced in Lambrate, a district of Milan. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates: the Mark II, the Clubman, and the Mark III. The performance versions, the Mini Cooper and Cooper “S”, were successful as both race and rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally in 1964, 1965, and 1967.

On its introduction in August 1959, the Mini was marketed under the Austin and Morris names, as the Austin Seven and Morris Mini-Minor. 1994, and sold the greater part of it in 2000, but retained the rights to build cars using the Mini name. A cross-section shows how a Mini maximises passenger space. The Mini came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis. Leonard Lord, the somewhat autocratic head of BMC, reportedly detested these cars so much that he vowed to rid the streets of them and design a ‘proper miniature car’. Alec Issigonis, who had been working for Alvis, had been recruited back to BMC in 1955 with a brief from Lord to design a range of technically advanced family cars in the same innovative spirit as his earlier Morris Minor to complement BMC’s existing conventional models.

The suspension system, designed by Issigonis’s friend Dr. Alex Moulton at Moulton Developments Limited, used compact rubber cones instead of conventional springs. The Mini became an icon of 1960s British popular culture, and featured in the 1969 caper film The Italian Job. Initially, an interconnected fluid system was planned, similar to the one that Alec Issigonis and Alex Moulton were working on in the mid-1950s at Alvis. An agreement was made on the 10-inch size, after Dunlop rejected the eight-inch proposition. Many features were designed into the ADO15’s interior to maximise its passenger and luggage space on top of the major savings allowed by the transverse engine and 10-inch wheels.

Sliding windows allowed single-skin doors to be fitted, improving elbow room and reducing costs. A bracing bar was fitted across the door frame to brace the single skin and this was later adapted into a large storage bin on each door. The Mini was designed as a monocoque shell with welded seams visible on the outside of the car running down the A and C pillars, and between the body and the floor pan. Early prototypes were fully unitary in construction, but the cars broke apart under the high loads from the large lever ratios used with the rubber cone suspension. The design was changed to use steel subframes to carry the drivetrain and suspension for the front and rear.

This also simplified production, as both subframes could be built up independently and then mated to the already-completed bodyshell. In 1959, BMC and Alec Issigonis won the Dewar Trophy, for the design and production of the Mini. 1959 Morris Mini-Minor Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. The production version of the Mini was demonstrated to the press in April 1959, and by August, several thousand cars had been produced ready for the first sales. The Mini was officially announced to the public on 26 August 1959. Some 2,000 cars had already been sent abroad and were displayed that day in almost 100 countries.

The first example, a Morris Mini-Minor with the registration 621 AOK, is on display at the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire. The Mini was marketed under BMC’s two main brand names, Austin and Morris, until 1969, when it became a marque in its own right. The Morris version was known to all as “the Mini” or the “Morris Mini-Minor”. Morris Cooper and Morris Cooper S versions, as well. In 1964, the suspension of the cars was replaced by another Moulton design, the hydrolastic system. The new suspension gave a softer ride, but it also increased weight and production cost. In 1971, the original rubber suspension reappeared and was retained for the remaining life of the Mini.

From October 1965, the option of the unique Automotive Products designed four-speed automatic transmission became available. Cars fitted with this became the Mini-Matic. Slow at the outset, Mark I sales strengthened across most of the model lines in the 1960s, and production totalled 1,190,000. Ford purchased a Mini and dismantled it to see if they could offer an alternative. The Mini entered into popular culture in the 1960s with well-publicised purchases by film and music stars.