Mini: 'We won't overdo it'

Mini’s two most senior designers are reluctant to show too many new Mini concepts as “there is a limit to the amount people can take”.

Mini has gone from one model to four in less than 10 years. Mini design chief Gert Hildebrand said the firm “has more things to show”, but “people needed to get used” to new Minis first, including the Countryman.

“It’s sold out until April, but its long-term prospects are unknown,” he told Autocar.

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BMW Group design chief Adrian van Hooydonk said: “We have ideas for Mini in the future, but we need to be careful how we communicate them. Mini is a very sensitive brand.”

Mini is expected to show its next concept at the Geneva motor show in March, the ‘mini’ Mini. “A ‘mini’ Mini would make sense as it’s between the scooters [shown at Paris last month] and the hatchback,” said Hildebrand. “It’s something we’d like to do.”

Hildebrand also said Mini’s Coupe and Roadster models were on track for a 2011 launch, starting with the Coupe model. Design work on the Mini ‘3’, the third-generation Mini hatchback due in 2013-14, is also underway said Hildebrand.

“We’ve started work on the design but it’s too early to say how it’ll look,” he said.

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Van Hooydonk said all future Minis “will be the smallest in their segment and be small, premium and customisable”.

On the subject of the ‘mini’ Mini, He said: “Go smaller? We have lots of ideas… I had an original Mini so I know what the brand is all about. We need to have ideas for the future.”

Mark Tisshaw

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