2008 Mini Clubman, Pepper White, 1.6l, Manual Transmission on 2040-cars

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2014 Mini Cooper Clubvan

A Premium Van For The Modern-Day Milkman
We first saw the Mini Clubvan at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2012, then in December again at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Based on a stock Mini Clubman, the Clubvan's dimensions are identical, while all side windows aft of the middle pillar are blocked out from the inside with handy polycarbonate liners (read: fancy plastic) and have body color skin on the outside, while the rear windows are tinted to boot. It looks like a van and works like a van, so it must be a van. A Mini-van, though.
Where is Mini going with this relatively low-cost (to the company) product line extension? The chief market for this nimble little hauler is cities in Great Britain where they were frequently in bygone days identified as milk delivery vans. These days, though, there are - even in the US now - lower cost smaller urban delivery vans from Ford, Ram and Nissan. Therefore, the spin is that the Mini Clubvan is designed to cater to smaller boutique firms in need of making a fashionable impression while delivering the goods to people living in penthouses and such. Think: Florists, caterers, and so on.

Mini marks International Women's Day with Pat Moss Edition

Mini is celebrating International Women's Day with a new Pat Moss Edition package for the 2023 Mini Cooper. Moss was the first driver to win an international rally behind the wheel of a car wearing the Mini badge when she took first place in the Tulip Rally — from Noordwijk in the Netherlands to the French Riviera and back again — in 1962.  "This special edition not only commemorates the launch of MINIÂ’s extraordinary sporting career, but it also marks a pioneering achievement for women in motorsports," Mini said in its announcement. "Success in the Netherlands turned the classic Mini, Pat Moss and her co-driver Ann Wisdom into enduring heroines in a discipline otherwise dominated by both significantly larger vehicles, and male driving teams." Moss was the sister of Stirling Moss; she died in 2008. This appearance package includes Pat Moss signature decals on the front bumper (where Moss originally signed the car after one of its rally victories) and dash, stylized tulips integrated into the side markers, sill plates, steering wheel and wheel center caps, a fender decal detailing the Tulip Rally course and a decal on the hood commemorating the original rally victor's registration number.  To the left of the wheel, there's another decal on the dash which might at first appear to be a stylized picket fence, but it's actually meant to look like pistons moving up and down, arranged to look like the letters "M" and "W" for "Moss" and "Wisdom."  Globally, Mini will offer the Pat Moss Edition on the Cooper S Hardtop 2-door, a Cooper S Hardtop 4-door, and a John Cooper Works Hardtop, but only the JCW will be an option for U.S. customers. Pricing will be available closer to launch, we're told, but the Pat Moss edition is limited to just 800 units worldwide and given that it's based on the JCW's existing Iconic trim, which starts at about $40,000, it won't be cheap.  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 invokes an alternate universe

Sir Alec Issigonis, designer of the 1959 Mini, would probably find Mini's new Vision Next 100 concept amusing. The original Mini was largely an exercise in efficient packaging and clever engineering. That it was handsome, and became iconic, was more a product of its wild success than an intentional product of its exterior styling. While the Mini concept is undoubtedly cleverly packaged, it's almost purely a styling exercise, no matter what sort of futuristic connected/autonomous functionality Mini says it'll have. Mini doesn't seem able to move past the Mini as a caricature of itself. The heavy, floating roof, the vestigial round and friendly "headlamps", the oversized gauge pod. This seems very German, the inability to communicate essential brand attributes without using cliches. Mini is in a styling rut, trying to evolve the same basic styling language with each new generation, stretching it over larger hard points. The Vision Next 100 program would have been a great time to communicate to the public that Mini is more than just styling tropes: it's an attitude, a way of thinking, a connectedness to the driver. More than a badge or bug-eyed headlights. To its credit, the interior is massively decluttered. That's in part to the rear-engine layout, but more on that in a follow-up piece. The comparatively vast footwell and ultra-minimalist dash pair well with the giant windscreen. It feels light, airy, and authentic to the ideals of the originally Mini in terms of space efficiency, without being overly sentimental. Futurism is a thankless profession, and we can't take this concept literally as a vision of what the brand will be in 100 years. We can say this: it doesn't seem that Mini will be able to transcend the styling tropes that currently define Mini. Let's hope they find a way out of their rut. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mini Vision Next 100 Concept View 38 Photos Design/Style BMW MINI Coupe Hatchback Concept Cars Future Vehicles vision next 100