Immaculate Mini Cooper S,6 Speed Manual,clean Title,good Carfax,low Miles 4year on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Chinese-made electric Mini threatened with highest EV tariff from EU

BERLIN — The new all-electric Mini Cooper made in China is set to be hit by the highest EV tariff of 38.1% under the EU's provisional plans, a Reuters source familiar with the matter said on Friday, a potential terminal blow for the car's sales prospects. Mass production of the roughly 35,000-euro ($37,345) vehicle, produced by a joint venture of BMW and China's Great Wall Motor Co Ltd, began late last year - shortly after the EU launched its probe. With production still in early days, the joint venture was unable to fulfil the European Commission's survey to the level of detail required to be classed as a company cooperating with the investigation, the source said, declining to be named because discussions are private. Companies seen as cooperating with the EU were subject to lower tariffs of 17.4%-21%, according to a European Commission document seen by Reuters. That includes BMW Brilliance Automotive, another BMW joint venture that has produced the electric iX3 for export to Europe from China since 2021. BMW declined to comment. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said earlier this week the tariffs were the "wrong way to go", echoing concerns from other German carmakers fearful of a trade war which could end in counter-tariffs on cars exported from Germany to China. The European Commission said that joint ventures producing cars in China would be subject to duties, without specifying whether more recently formed ventures might benefit from the lower 21% rate for companies that cooperated with the investigation. A 38.1% price hike on the Mini, which was to be exported from China to Europe, could dent sales at a time when the carmaker is counting on every projected all-electric sale to help meet tightening carbon emissions targets. The deadline for imposing provisional measures is July 4, after which the investigation will continue to late October. That leaves time for Beijing and Brussels to make a deal to soften the blow. Companies can also submit comments and request hearings after the provisional duties are applied.   Green Government/Legal Rumormill BMW MINI China

Mini Hardtop's next generation could be smaller, electric-only

Mini has started developing the fourth-generation Hardtop it will release in the early 2020s. Many aspects of the car aren't set in stone yet, but the company's chief executive revealed his team is considering making the hatchback smaller than the current model by offering it only as an electric car. The cheeky Hardtop has ballooned in size since the first-generation model arrived in 2000. The current, two-door variant of the car (pictured) is eight inches longer, two inches taller, and about 250 pounds heavier than the original BMW-developed hatchback. Company boss Bernd Koerber told British magazine Auto Express that he's pushing his team to make the next Mini small again. Going electric-only would allow engineers to get close to the original Hardtop's footprint. An electric motor is more compact than a comparable gasoline-powered engine, and the battery pack can be cleverly integrated in a part of the car that doesn't extend its length. Whether Mini will manage to integrate a bulky battery pack into the Hardtop while shaving 250 pounds remains to be seen. "I would love to see Mini move back to the essence of clever use of space. That means the outer proportions on the core Mini Hardtop could be reduced. I can see that happening," Koerber explained. He added shrinking the hatchback wouldn't make it less practical. Auto Express speculated Mini might sell the current, third-generation Hardtop alongside its replacement for several years to satisfy motorists not interested in going electric. This strategy will become increasingly common during the 2020s; the Fiat 500 will soldier on in Europe after the launch of its battery-powered successor, and Porsche confirmed it will manufacture the first- and second-generation variants of the Macan side by side to give customers exactly what they're looking for. Going electric-only wouldn't be the cheapest, easiest way to replace the Hardtop. The firm can't use the BMW-sourced platform that underpins the recently-released Cooper SE because it's too big, so it would need to develop a new architecture specifically for it. Engineers would also need to figure out how to develop an electric follow-up to the John Cooper Works-badged hot hatch. None of these problems are insurmountable, but they're expensive to solve, so Mini's executives are giving themselves time to weigh the pros and cons of reinventing the heritage-laced British icon yet again.

2021 Mini Cooper 1499 GT adds sporty, retro attitude to the three-cylinder Mini

When you think of sporty Minis, you probably think of the Mini Cooper S and John Cooper Works models with their (relatively) large turbo four-cylinder engines. But with the 2021 Mini Cooper 1499 GT special edition, Mini is trying to bring a dash of sportiness to the base three-cylinder model. The car's styling and name is inspired by the Mini 1275 GT that was introduced way back in 1969 as a more affordable, but still sporty, alternative to the Cooper S. The number represented the engine displacement in cubic centimeters, as it does on the new 1499 GT. The black paint scheme with gold side stripes is the inverse of the launch color for the 1275 GT. Further adding to its athletic looks are black badges and trim, 17-inch wheels, and John Cooper Works-style front and rear bumpers, side skirts and hatch spoiler. The interior also picks up an array of John Cooper Works parts including the steering wheel, seats, shifter and pedals. In front of the steering wheel is the digital instrument cluster from the John Cooper Works GP. Mini also adds a few equipment upgrades found in upper-trim Cooper Hardtops such as dual-zone automatic climate control, automatic lights, automatic wipers, a 6.5-inch infotainment screen and navigation. What the 1499 GT doesn't get are any performance upgrades. The turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder makes the same 134 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque as its Cooper siblings. It comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic is available as an option. The suspension is unchanged as well. Still, we've found that the base three-cylinder Mini is a thoroughly entertaining car to drive. To pick up one of these special edition Minis, you'll need to fork over $27,890. That's about on par with the Mini Cooper Signature trim, so it isn't completely unreasonable to pay that much for a three-cylinder Mini. But buyers looking for a sporty Mini might be tempted to skip over the 1499 GT for the more powerful Mini Cooper S, which starts slightly less at $27,250. Related Video: