MINI News
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Oh, those wacky Germans and their car-sharing schemes. BMW said yesterday that it would launch a pilot car-sharing program, first in Munich and then in Berlin, starting next month. The cooperative venture with Sixt AG will be called DriveNow. BMW says DriveNow will be the "first-ever car-sharing scheme offering premium models," in this case its BMW 1-Series and Mini Cooper vehicles. The company also expects to introduce plug-in and battery electric vehicles, presumbly its i3 minicar, later on. All cars will have four or more seats, and luxury features like heated seats and automated parking...
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MINI Rocketman Inspires Dreams of 94 MPG
94 miles per gallon sounds pretty good doesn’t it? What about a glass roof etched with the Union Jacket and an overall length of 11 feet 3 inches? If that sounds interesting to you, then the MINI Rocketman is going to be right up your alley. It even has a feature that they call “complex...
Jonathan McGrew -
MINI Launches the MINI Motorsports Fan Page on Facebook
Earlier this week MINI announced via their Facebook fan page their newest addition to the social media community—MINI Motorsports. The point of the fan page is to promote the brand’s participation in motorsports around the world and not just from corporate sponsored...
Jonathan McGrew -
Mini MINIs Spotted Looking Ready For Production
MINI is always up for something new, especially when it comes to adding more people to the MINI community. Back in 2009 at the Frankfurt Auto Show we saw a coupe and roaster version of the popular MINI Cooper unveiled. At the time there was no confirmation as to whether this shortened Coopers would...
Jonathan McGrew -
Tesla Fan Drives Epic Electric Car Trip To Prove BBC Wrong
The British Broadcasting Corporation, considered to be the center-pin of television and radio in the U.K., has always had a cautious view of the benefits of electric vehicles, often choosing to illustrate the limited range of electric cars in articles rather than the positive benefits. In typical...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Counting Down To 2011: Top ASC Article for August 2010
As people on the other side of the globe ring in their New Year, we continue to roll towards our own celebrations here in the States. In just under seven hours the eastern seaboard will ring in the New Year, so we better get a move on for the second half of our count down to 2011—the best of...
Jonathan McGrew -
We're suckers for new kinds of combustion engines. Ever since we first saw and wrote about the Cyclone external-combustion engine, we've been intrigued by it. Now we have an automotive angle: Suppose you could power a Chevy Volt-like range-extended electric car on nothing more than used motor oil. That'd be cool, right? Rather than burning "virgin" gasoline, you could take the effluvia of those old-fashioned gasoline cars and use its energy content to create power that would drive your electric car. From waste oil to electric power This flight of fancy was sparked by an October press release...
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MINI Hints At Model Shake Up With Paceman Concept
This summer all the talk in the MINI camp was about the 2011 MINI Countryman—especially at MINI TAKES THE STATES 2010. Now as the holiday season comes into full swing we turn our eyes towards 2011 and the Detroit Auto Show on January 10th. MINI, not to be caught without something interesting...
Jonathan McGrew -
Small Cars That Take Home the Top Resale Value For 2011
When buying a new car some people pay a lot of attention to the resale value, others pay little attention to it, but either way it can be an important piece of financial information for the future. How do you find out what the resale value of a particular car is? Well, luck would have it that...
Jonathan McGrew -
MINI and BMW Make Some Marketing Changes
You may remember the MINI Takes the States Tour 2010 that AllSmallCars.com reported on over the summer. Basically, it is a part of the core that is MINI lifestyle marketing and consisted of a road rally that started in many of the major U.S. markets and terminated in Denver, Colo. The event was...
Jonathan McGrew -
MINI Takes Ownership Poll On Facebook
Are you on Facebook? If you aren’t, then you might be missing out. MINI has their own official Facebook Fan Page for people around the world to “like” MINI and currently it shows that 441,716 people have signed up. Pretty impressive considering Facebook is really something that...
Jonathan McGrew -
2010 Paris Auto Show: Electric Scooters from MINI, Smart
The 2010 Paris Auto Show proved there's serious energy going into electric cars, but even EVs with two wheels were well represented at the show--and by major auto brands, at that. The Smart Escooter Electric Bike seem like a logical extension for the teensy ForTwo, which looks like a beast in...
Martin Padgett -
Who says MINIs are to small to be big contenders? Certainly not it parent group BMW or the people behind the scenes at MINI that develop the little car for all different types of segments. During the summer we reported on the MINI Takes the States event, which had the cool and clean MINI E, as well as, the MINI Countryman. Now at the 2010 Paris Motor Show MINI has unveiled their newest World Rally Championship car. It is lean, mean and in the Clubman format. According to Ian Robertson, member of the board of management for MINI parent BMW Group’s sales and marketing, they choose the...
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MINI Gets Investigated Over Steering Issues In 2004-2005 Coopers
Maybe it is just me, but it seems that the internet has really changed the way we report motor vehicle defects and safety issues. I think the most obvious case of this is with Toyota and their floor mats that turned into “unintended acceleration” investigations by the National Highway...
Jonathan McGrew -
2010 Paris Auto Show Preview: MINI Scooter E Concept
In less than a week MINI is set to unveil a new concept vehicle at the 2010 Paris Auto Show but unlike previous designs from the iconic British brand, this one only has two wheels. The concept is the new 2010 MINI Scooter E, the latest line in electric vehicles from MINI and the first with two...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
2010 Mini E Driven Like Any Other Car, U.K. Trial Shows
Ask a non EV owner what life is like with an electric car and you’re likely to hear tales of range anxiety, slow motoring and constant recharging. But as the results of BMW’s Mini E trial in the U.K. show, drivers of BMW’s two-seat, all-electric mini have, horror of horrors, been...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Mitsubishi Redesigns 2011 U.S. Spec i-Miev, Brit Models Fail
It’s not always best to be first. When Mitsubishi was the first major manufacturer to announce an all-electric version of it’s sub-compact i City Car back in 2006 the company had a major head-start on the competition. But with the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Coda...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2013 BMW Megacity EV: Autocar Reveals More Details
It's easy to forget that BMW have already produced two EVs - the 2009 MINI-E, which is undergoing trials in the U.S. and elsewhere in the hands of individuals, and the 2009 ActiveE concept based on their 1-Series Coupe. BMW are busy working away on another EV though, one that will wear the famous...
Antony Ingram -
MINI May Have Cornered the Market On Affordable and Fun EVs
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Report: No Plans For MINI Diesel Hybrid
MINI’s parent company BMW is working on diesel-electric hybrid vehicles, as is its engine partner PSA Peugeot Citroen, but don’t hold your breath for such a model from the iconic British brand. That’s the word from MINI’s engine chief, Wolfgang Kuttler, who said the technology is just too...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
MTTS2010: MINI Puts the M In Community Across the U.S.
From the Countryman to a Wedding Ceremony MINI Brings People Together
Jonathan McGrew -
Fiat Brand May Be Sold By Competitors In U.S. Markets
The Fiat and Alfa Romeo Brands Could Sell Where You Don’t Expect Them
Jonathan McGrew -
MINI Asks: Are You An Adrenaline Junkie?
Direct Mail That Teases MINI and Their MINIcross Event
Jonathan McGrew -
Are Public Charging Stations Really Needed for EV Deployment?
There's been a lot of discussion and consideration given to the topic of public charging stations for electric vehicles. The old "chicken verses egg" conundrum is called to mind as auto makers and politicians seem to fumble around without really knowing what to do and where to allocate funds. Will...
Tom Moloughney