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Mini apologizes with chocolate rose after spamming customer's inbox

If you're a manufacturer, there are only so many ways you can say "sorry" after your automated e-mail system goes berzerk and spams everyone on your mailing list with hundreds of the same message. Mini recently found itself in that very spot, and rather than respond with a sheepish mea culpa, the company's PR team took a different tack by sending owners a very unique gift box. How unique? Inside, one owner found a set of chocolate roses, a roll of duct tape and a genuine can of Spam.
In an accompanying note, the company said it hoped the sweets would help patch things up between the company and the victims of the e-mail barrage, but in the event that wasn't enough to do the trick, the duct tape was there to help out. And the can of Spam? That tagged along just for stress release. Apparently the canned meat is squeezable. We wouldn't know. You can check out full photos of the gift box here.

Mini hops on the rooftop tent craze

Among the many changes ushered in by the pandemic year, has been an explosion in the popularity of camping. But even more so than camping trailers and RVs, rooftop automobile tents seem to be having their moment. Everyone, it seems, suddenly wants to sleep on the roof of their car. Most often, we see these tents perched atop some tricked-out overlanding rig or at the very least, a factory offroader like the Land Rover Defender or Ford Bronco. But how about a more earth-friendly option? Like, say, getting back to nature in a battery-powered Mini? Both the battery-powered Mini Cooper SE and the plug-in hybrid Mini Countryman SE offer roof rails, a key foundation for a rooftop tent. Taking advantage of that feature, Mini offers two different rooftop tents as factory accessories, as seen here. Unfortunately, as of now, they're only available in Europe. The intrepid nature-lovers better not go too far from civilization in the Cooper SE, since it has just 110 miles of range (according to the EPA) — although Mini optimistically suggests that many campgrounds now have EV charging points, so you can power up while winding down. For its part, the plug-in hybrid Countryman SE claims 17 miles of EV range before the gasoline engine fires up. Should the rooftop tent craze continue even after people once again feel safe checking into a Ritz-Carlton, it would be great to see more offerings that are designed for smaller host vehicles. After all, eco-friendly cars would seem to be thematically aligned with the nature appreciation that's inherently a part of camping. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mini SE gets the art car treatment with The Flash superhero painting

What better superhero to put on an electric car than The Flash? Admittedly, the speedy superhero may be a better fit for the Porsche Taycan Turbo or Tesla Model S Performance, but a Mini SE is a fine option itself. The Mini flashes through corners instead of the quarter mile. There, we made it work. Mini has decided to attend the international comics, gaming, animation and fantasy fair, Lucca Changes 2020, with this art car. This year, the fair is completely online. The author who made this art car is Carmine di Giandomenico. He’s an Italian cartoonist who actually made 34 issues of The Flash. Obviously, he had an idea of what he was doing going into this project. Previous to this project, he earned the nickname of “fastest cartoonist in the world” when he drew 56 comic tables in 48 hours. The work of art drawn on this Mini is meant to be a recreation of the cover for Issue 123 originally drawn by Carmine Infantino. Very few details of the actual process were detailed by Mini, but itÂ’s said to have taken di Giandomenico just 10 hours to complete it from start to finish using a “mixed technique.” That tracks with the speeds at which he typically completes his drawings. Art cars can take days to create depending on their complexity, but this is not one of those. As we look at the number of photos provided, “The Flash” is the main event along the sides of the Mini. Lightning arcs up and down and front to back. The lightning bolt symbol on the hood is the same as what youÂ’ll see on The FlashÂ’s chest. It all fits quite nicely with the electric MiniÂ’s persona. Now, if Mini can just find a way to harness The FlashÂ’s power to increase the carÂ’s 110-mile range on a full charge ... Related Video: