2009 Mini Cooper S Convertible Rare! on 2040-cars

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Mini Rocketman concept reportedly going into production as an EV

Remember the Mini Rocketman Concept from the 2011 Geneva Motor Show? If you don’t thatÂ’s OK, as itÂ’s been almost an entire decade since Mini pulled the wraps off. Despite the massive time lapse, Mini decided to revive the concept, not just for show. The companyÂ’s finally going to put the Rocketman into production, as an electric vehicle. We've heard this before, a few years ago, but nothing was set in stone. Now it seems a decision has been made. AutoCar in Britain recently learned that the Rocketman will fulfill its premise as the companyÂ’s first subcompact city car. The production model, scheduled for 2022, will reportedly be heavily reworked and built as a joint project with Chinese automaker Great Wall Motors. “WeÂ’re advancing plans for a model along the lines of the Rocketman. ItÂ’s a car we have been looking at for a long time, but to build it profitably at the price point we think customers are prepared to pay, you need a joint venture partner to share costs. Great Wall Motors has provided that opportunity with a shared electric car platform that will be used by Mini,” an anonymous “senior BMW official” was quoted as saying. The production Rocketman will retain its three-door hatchback design and is expected to serve as the manufacturerÂ’s newest entry-level model. It will be built by Great Wall Motors in Jiangsu, China, while BMW oversees the design and production with plans to sell it in all markets globally. When the Rocketman first surfaced at Geneva, it was essentially BMWÂ’s direct response to DaimlerÂ’s Smart ForFour. However, even with positive feedback from prospective customers, the project was shelved because development discussions between BMW and its initial partner, Peugeot, ended abruptly. The companies were reportedly going to share platforms and powertrains in another joint venture. In the new agreement with the Chinese company, the production model will apparently use a small-car platform used by Great Wall Motors called the Ora R1. The Peugeot-BMW project was going to use either a three-cylinder gas or diesel engine. But the new model will gain an all-electric powertrain by Spotlight Automotive as a part of BMWÂ’s massive plan to launch up to 25 new plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles by the end of 2023. One of those models is the newly released all-electric Cooper SE.

On Location in California with BMW and Mini

A mid-winter escape from frigid Michigan to drive a trio of new BMW and Mini products? It'd be a busy couple of days, but you can't argue with Southern California in February. The temperatures in LA, where we drove the Mini Cooper S Convertible, hovered in the mid-80s, and it was solidly in the 70s further north, at Monterey, where we drove the M2 and X4 M40i. The highlight of the trip was Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, which is a rewarding track to drive in a street car. The M2 was a blast there. The canyon roads above Malibu in the Mini were a close second, but even the lazy drive down the PCH to Big Sur was a blast. More important is the California state of mind we were in when driving all three of these cars. I've spent a lot of time in this state, and it has a complicated relationship with the car – and there's also a huge difference in attitude between the greater Bay Area and Southern California. Ample sun and twisty roads clash with image-consciousness, eco-consciousness, and brutal urban gridlock, and each BMW dealt with that paradox admirably, in its own way. Take a quick jaunt to California with me and check out the locations and experiences that helped form our impressions of these vehicles: the 2016 BMW M2 First Drive, the 2016 Mini Cooper S Convertible First Drive, and the 2016 BMW X4 M40i Quick Spin.

U.S. issues new tariff threat, this time against British-built cars

WASHINGTON — Britain is the United States' closest ally but their long friendship may be sorely tested as the two countries try to forge a new trade agreement after Britain's exit from the European Union. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Saturday in London that he was optimistic that a bilateral deal with Britain could be reached as soon as this year. But Mnuchin gave up no ground after a second meeting with his UK counterpart, Sajid Javid. Javid has insisted that Britain will proceed with a unilateral digital services tax, despite a U.S. threat to levy retaliatory tariffs on British-made autos. Mnuchin told reporters after Saturday's meeting that such taxes would discriminate against big U.S. tech companies like Alphabet Inc's Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. The UK Treasury declined to comment on the private meeting. The divide highlights the challenges ahead as the Trump administration seeks a new bilateral agreement with Britain, part of a broader push to rebalance relations with nearly all its major trading partners. The stakes are high — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has pegged the trade deal with United States as a way to ease the pain of breaking with Europe, Britain's largest trade partner. U.S. President Donald Trump, has promised a "massive" trade deal to support Brexit, the product of a populist movement similar to his "America First" agenda. The goodwill and special relationship the two countries have enjoyed for decades may not count for much, experts say. "Trump is not going to be doing Johnson any favors," said Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington. "He's not going to give him a trade deal without major concessions." Even before the digital tax issue arose, the Trump administration threatened to tax foreign car imports, which could hit British-made Jaguar, Land Rover, Mini, and Honda Civic hatchback cars. Stiff U.S. trade demands include increased access for U.S. farm goods, concessions that will be difficult for Britain's entrenched natural food culture to swallow. The United States also wants Britain to change the way its National Health Service prices drugs and allow in more U.S. pharmaceuticals, which could prove politically unpopular for Johnson's government. Washington's demand that London block Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd for national security reasons could also cloud talks.