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Mini celebrates 60 years of Cooper with Anniversary Edition Hatch

Sir Alec Issigonis never seriously envisioned the original Mini as a performance car. It was a cheap and cheerful econobox developed as an alternative to the bubble cars that were wildly popular in post-WWII England. Race car engineer John Cooper played a significant role in revealing the Mini's sporty side, and the BMW-owned firm is celebrating the collaboration's 60th anniversary with a limited-edition variant of the Hatch that will be sold globally. Aptly named Anniversary Edition, the commemorative hatchback is available in British Racing Green, Midnight Black or Rebel Green (depending on the version). Regardless of the chosen paint color, the light bezels, the door mirror caps, the door handles and the roof are painted white, while most of the other exterior trim pieces are black. The number "74" appears on the hood and on the doors; it was chosen as a reference to the original Mini, which wore the same number when it earned its first win in a major race. Red accents add a finishing touch to the look. Open the door, and you'll spot edition-specific door sill plates with a Cooper logo. The same design appears on the three-spoke steering wheel, and there's a red ring on the passenger side of the dashboard that's a tribute to the original John Cooper logo. The signatures of John, Mike and Charlie Cooper appear next to the instrument cluster. Mini is not making any major mechanical changes to the Anniversary Edition. The package can be ordered with the standard Cooper, the hotter Cooper S or the spicy John Cooper Works model. In its most powerful configuration, the Hatch offers a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that develops 228 horsepower. For context, the original Mini Cooper was powered by a 1.0-liter four-cylinder tuned to develop about 55 horsepower. It could reach a top speed of around 80 mph, and it gained disc brakes (the standard Mini initially settled for drums on both axles).  Only 740 units of the Anniversary Edition Hatch will be built globally. Pricing information hasn't been announced. And, while we know the model is America-bound, there's no word yet on how many will be sent to our shores. We've reached out to the brand, and we'll update this story if we learn more. Cooper's pre-Cooper models Mini launched its first Cooper-tuned model in September 1961, but the collaboration started earlier.

BMW looking to save billions with cost cuts

BMW is planning a fairly extensive overhaul in a bid to recoup some its annual costs, with CEO Norbert Reithofer (pictured above) aiming to save three to four billion euro ($4 to $5.4 billion) per year to help keep the company's profit margins between eight and 10 percent, while also maintaining investments in production expansion and new tech. BMW's profit margins sat at 9.4 percent in 2013.
According to Automotive News Europe, Reithofer is none too pleased about costs at Mini and on the 1 Series, although neither AN nor its source story, from Germany's Manager Magazin, elaborate on what steps could be taken to improve losses on either project. That makes it hard to figure out just where the fat will be trimmed from.
What may happen, though, is that BMW attempts to trim 100 million euros ($135 million) from its German labor costs each year; a solution hinted at a few weeks ago by Germany newspaper Muenchner Merkur. While a dramatic cost reduction, 100 million euros still doesn't begin to even approach the savings envisioned by Reithofer.

Mini may not build electric cars in England due to Brexit

BMW will decide whether to build its new electric Mini in Britain or elsewhere by the end of September, its board member for sales told Reuters, in a test of the country's ability to continue to attract investment as it leaves the EU. Mini makes around 70 percent of its approximately 360,000 compact cars at its Oxford plant in southern England but the car industry is concerned about the effect any loss of unfettered access to the EU, its largest export market, could have on plants after Brexit. BMW is deciding between its English site, a plant in the Netherlands where it has built more of its conventional line-up in recent years, and its Germany plants at Leipzig and Regensburg for the new low-emissions variant. The firm's board member for sales told Reuters that the electric Mini investment, likely to be worth tens of millions of pounds, would come in the next three months and the board was currently considering a number of factors including Brexit. "One of the elements is what is the likelihood of a tax regime and if there's a tax regime, how would it apply," Ian Robertson said during an interview at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England. "If you made the motor in a German plant and you then assembled the car in a British plant, and you took the cars back to the German market, then the duty that you would pay would be reclaimed," he said, in an example of the options companies are examining to plan for any duties or tariffs. The automaker is also looking into where the uptake of greener models is strongest and where the best supply chains are, he said. Britain could approve its first major electric battery hub in the next few weeks after officials in central England submitted proposals to ministers in May. But last month, the car industry issued its strongest warning yet on the need for politicians to strike a transitional Brexit deal after two-year talks to ensure unfettered trade is maintained. Uncertainty has also been heightened after a snap June 8 election which left Prime Minister Theresa May without a majority and has led to ministers in her administration hinting at different versions of Britain's likely post-Brexit future. Last year, May's administration helped secure two new models at Japanese carmaker Nissan's plant in the north of England after what a source said was a government promise of extra support to counter any loss of competitiveness caused by Brexit.