The latest generation of the UK’s top-selling convertible goes on sale in the country at the end of March although it will no longer be assembled in its home market.
This new Mini cabriolet will be built alongside the three-door hatchback, on which it is based, at at the former Nedcar factory in Born, The Netherlands. BMW Group took on the former DAF/Volvo/Smart/Mitsubishi assembly plant to ease capacity issues at Mini’s home operation, Plant Oxford in the UK (the former Pressed Steel plant at what once was the Morris/BMC/British Leyland etc complex at Cowley).
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While the Oxford factory is running at full capacity, there will be room at Born also for the Mini Clubman and Paceman models currently assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria according to the brand’s UK product chief Nicholas Griebner.
The latest generation Mini sits for the first time on a completely new BMW platform and is is not one but two steps ahead of its predecessor in terms of quality and fit and finish, said Griebner. It also comes with 4cm more legroom in the rear while it boasts as much boot (trunk) capacity as the hatchback with the roof up.
Clever styling details hide the retractable rollover bars and, in response to customer feedback over rear view vision in the previous model, a reversing camera is standard in all models. Unlike BMW group stablemates, and the new Clubman, sat nav is not standard, however. Griebner said most small car buyers tend to travel only short distances and do not necessarily require route guidance.
Mini sales hit a new record last year with just over 47,000 models sold and the convertible will add more this year, said Griebner, coming two years after the launch of the latest hatchback.
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By GlobalData“People have been waiting for the soft top top and there is a lot of interest in it. It is the best selling converible in the UK and has been for the past 10 years – and it is the only sub-four metre convertible on the market.”
Starting price will be just under GBP18,000 (USD27,000) and the new soft top comes in three versions, Cooper, Cooper S and high performance John Cooper Works.
