2011 Mini Cooper Countryman S All4 Hatchback 4-door 1.6l on 2040-cars

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Mini Seven Special Edition looks back to the days of Austin

Mini is back at the game of special editions with the Seven, the first of its kind for the third-generation Hardtop. Named after the original Austin Seven – one of the two original Mini models, alongside the Morris Mini Minor – the new style pack is available on both the two- and four-door and the Cooper and Cooper S models. But where past Mini special editions have been largely homogenous, the new Seven has a surprising array of options, especially as it relates to colors and upholsteries. Owners can choose from four different paint schemes – Lapisluxury Blue (shown above), Pepper White, Midnight Black, and British Racing Green. The options continue in the cabin, where owners can select the Seven-specific Diamond Malt Brown fabric/leather upholstery, or they can go with straight leather in Cross Punch Carbon Black, Lounge Satellite Grey, or MINI Yours Lounge Carbon Black. There are four dash trim options, too, with standard Piano Black, and optional Dark Cottonwood, Fibre Alloy, and Off-White. Below the trim strip, owners can have either a Malt Brown color line or Carbon Black. A set of 17-inch, two-tone alloys are standard, and regardless of which exterior paint you opt for, you're stuck with a Melting Silver roof. The decreasing-width stripes match the roof and have what Mini claims are Malt Brown rules, but we're seeing red trimmings in these photos. Heated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, Comfort Access, a Harmon/Kardon stereo, park-distance control, power-folding, auto-dimming mirrors, and a 6.5-inch Mini Connected system are all standard features as part of the Seven package, while additional options will be available, like on any other Cooper or Cooper S. Mini's press release, for example, specifically calls out the larger 8.8-inch Mini Connected XL and adaptive dampers as available options. Mini will announce prices for the Seven package nearer to its late summer on-sale date. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mini Vision Next 100 Concept: It's the autonomy, stupid

The concepts that Mini and Rolls-Royce showed off today – the Vision Next 100 Concept and 103EX, respectively – are all about autonomy. The Rolls-Royce doesn't even have a place for a "driver." And even though both are very much blue sky concepts, corporate parent BMW thinks it will make fully-autonomous cars within the next five years. That's according to Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, MINI, BMW Motorrad, Rolls-Royce, and Aftersales BMW Group, who also told us that both cars, at least in concept, are fully electric. The Rolls-Royce has dual-drive, 250kw motors mounted fore-and aft, on front and rear axles. While the Rolls is clearly a luxury concept for the monied few, the Mini is very much focused on a shared economy. Holger Hampf, Head of User Experience, BMW Group, said the chief design challenge of a car-sharing world is producing a car that could in theory mean different things to different borrowers. You get exclusivity because each car would morph according to the borrower's desires. BMW/Mini already have a car-sharing program in London called DriveNow, and a pilot program in Seattle called ReachNow, focused on the idea of shared exclusivity. ReachNow, which allows Mini/BMW owners to lend their cars out in an AirBnB-type scheme or to borrow "fleet-style cars," are immutable – however the car that was ordered is what the borrower or the owner will get. That's great if you're the owner, but it's also challenging for both anyone who'd buy that car used or for anyone borrowing the car. And if the future of most cars is a shared model (Ford is now offering multi-person leases among up to six buyers in a pilot program in Austin, Texas), customization is impossible. The result is what Schwarzenbauer derogatorily calls "normed." He says carmakers have to relearn to brand for a world where ownership is devalued but customization is key. To that end the MINI VISION NEXT 100 is "skinned." We've seen this before with the BMW NEXT concept that was revealed at the NY Auto Show this past spring, and the idea is to use the exterior of the car as a canvass that changes according to setting. Indeed Mini envisions that in a multi-driver household, the vehicle's customization could easily include changing colors according to driver preference – automatically. Dr.

2025 Mini Aceman previewed as the brand's first standalone EV

Mini's first standalone electric model, the Aceman, will make its debut in the coming months. It was developed to fill the gap between the Cooper and the Countryman, and photos of a camouflaged prototype give us a better idea of what to expect when it lands in showrooms. If the name Aceman rings a bell, it's likely because Mini introduced it on a concept unveiled in 2022 and designed to preview the production model. The pictures suggest that the crossover hasn't changed much over the past two years: while the brand tweaked some of the design details, including the headlights, the front bumper, and the door mirrors, the overall proportions remain roughly the same. The funky-looking trim on the wheel arches carries over as well, though it looks like the EV lost ground clearance as it transitioned to a production model. Mini stresses that the Aceman will be all-electric, all the time; it won't be available with a gasoline-burning engine. It stretches about 160 inches long, 69 inches wide and 59 inches tall, meaning it's around 14 inches shorter, three inches narrower and six inches lower than the new second-generation Countryman. It's built on a 54.2-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack, but additional specifications aren't available. Somewhat tellingly, the aforementioned dimensions make the Aceman about the same size as the original Countryman launched in 2010. This likely explains what Mini had in mind when it made the new model much bigger than its predecessor; it carved out space for the EV. There's no word yet on precisely when the Aceman will lose its psychedelic camouflage and show its sheet metal; Mini notes that the unveiling will take place "in just a few months." While nothing is official yet, we wouldn't be surprised if the model lands in showrooms later in 2024 as a 2025 model. Details such as pricing, driving range, and where production will take place will emerge in the not-too-distant future. Related video: