BMW put Mini firmly back on the market – Looking back

It was 1994 when BMW took over the ailing Rover Group, amassing the rights to the Mini brand name. A world move. In the many years before – 35, to be exact – entire generations had become accustomed to that name. The classic Mini first went into production in 1959, and continued to be produced until 2000. No less than 5.3 million copies were built, in factories all over the world. Everyone knew what a Mini was. And more importantly: almost as many people could afford the car.

As a result, the original Mini, with its playful driving qualities, brought the pleasure of driving (Freude am Fahren?) to the masses. At the same time, the car’s distinctive design – coupled with the length of its life – helped make the Mini an icon long before it was due to go out of production. Not only because of the many appearances in films (take the original The Italian Job film from 1969), but also because of the (British) pop culture in the 1960s, the Mini has also been on the retina of people who have nothing to do with cars for years burned.

Which elements of the primal Mini do you recognize in the contemporary version?

With caution

A nice gift for BMW if it acquires the trademark rights in 1994, you would think. But with that fame came great responsibility. BMW has also known for a long time what it meant to have a decent image and wanted to deal with it responsibly – also in the case of the recently purchased, iconic Mini. But continuing the production of the original Mini even longer, that was no longer possible. The new millennium was coming and something new had to come. But what?

To answer that question, BMW allowed itself some space by keeping the original in the running for a while. By introducing some minor adjustments, the car could continue to be built until 2000, while BMW worked in the background on the three-door successor for after the turn of the century. We first got wind of that work in 1997 with the presentation of the ‘New Mini’ concept, a somewhat strange-looking and quite round-shaped car that inherited many of the modern features of the original Mini. However, its overall shape deviated significantly from it and the car was also not ‘right’ in terms of layout: it had a mid-engine and rear-wheel drive. Ultimately, Adrian van Hooydonk’s design would disappear in the trash – although the Dutchman is now head of design at the BMW Group.

The 1997 ‘New Mini’ concept was rejected. Tig different designers then tried to come up with a better idea, which ultimately resulted in the New Mini.

The New Mini came from the same pen as the current Fiat 500

There was further puzzling on the Mini successor. Several design teams from both Rover and BMW were set up in Germany, England and the US, all tasked with the same task: design a compact successor in the spirit of the Mini that can market BMW-Mini as a premium compact model.

Who finally succeeded? That was Frank Stephenson, designer of almost all modern McLarens, a handful of Ferraris and Maseratis and – surprisingly – also of the contemporary Fiat 500 from 2007. So he would later prove himself as a designer of small retro cars based on the most well-known city rascals, but he did that for the first time with the New Mini.

The first images of the original New Mini in AutoWeek in 2000.

‘The scoop of 2000’

Our first look at that car in 2000 we would describe as ‘the first of 2000’. As if it was already certain that the new Mini would be a success. And that was it, as we all learned by now. This year Mini introduces the fourth generation of the modern three-door hatchback. In terms of overall shape, that car is still the same as the original from 1959 and therefore also as the first New Mini that would eventually go into production in 2000. The wheels on the corners of the car, a white ‘cap’ as a roof or not, a window section that runs straight both above and below, vertically oriented rear lights, the grille with sides sloping from the top, a straight A-pillar and of course the ever round binoculars.

There is still no need to reinvent the modern Mini, so that the car – even if you disregard the original Mini – can now be compared perfectly with models such as the Porsche 911 or Mercedes-Benz G-class . Cars of which new generations appear, but which only reinvent themselves each time. Although the Mini becomes less mini with each generation and so also with the forthcoming fourth, you can count on it that the car will be a success again in 2023 and beyond. In that respect, BMW’s years of efforts to introduce the original New Mini are still paying off and the brand has proven to be a worthy partner to follow up on the British icon.

The fourth New Mini – just like the original Mini – is also built in Oxford. The variants with combustion engine, at least. The electric variant will be built in China.