The Mini Crossover Concept is a design study for a fourth variant in the current model range. With four doors, four drive wheels, four single seats, and at four metres in the length, you could say this new Mini is a 4 x 4 x 4 x 4.
The Mini Crossover Concept will be previewed at the Paris Motor Show next month and is the basis on which a series production car will be developed in the future. It combines versatility and style, and its main aim is to tempt new target groups into the world of Mini.
The Mini Crossover Concept is packed with innovative design details and practical solutions. It seeks to retain Mini ownership as a unique prospect as competitors continue to try to replicate their successful recipe.
The Mini Crossover Concept is the first model to measure more than four metres in length and almost 1.6m high, giving it greater practicality and enhanced flexibility. Interior personalisation opportunities are also increased.
This new Crossover concept still features many of the typical Mini characteristics, such as the wheels located at four corners to highlight the ‘go kart’ feeling, the circular design features, and the entertaining use of space and functions.
More than just an all-wheel drive, however, Mini tells us the crossover offers fantastic flexibility and meets more specific customer requirements.
With four doors, two on each side, you may think this Crossover has a conventional feel after all. But you’d be wrong. Two conventional doors can be found on the passenger sides (front and back ), with a third for the driver. The fourth door, for the rear passenger on the driver’s side, slides back along the outside of the car for convenient access and loading.
The rear door has a frameless, retractable window and when open, swivels to one side to facilitate the loading of long items, such as skis, snowboards and surfboards. But it doesn’t stop there. The capacity can be increased even further due to the folding roof cover which extends across the whole length of the roof and there’s even a transport case which can be fitted on to the outside of the rear door.
With more storage space than ever seen before in a Mini, the new Crossover Concept offers additional capacity and, uniquely, the opportunity to personalise the layout of the interior.
The four seats are individual, single seats which can be adjusted forwards and backwards by up to 13cm in the rear – allowing more legroom to the rear passengers.
The front and rear seats are linked visually by the new Mini 'centre rail' – a matt-polished aluminium fastening rail which extends from the dashboard through the middle of the car, to the rear. A unique fastening system can be used with the centre rail to attach cupholders, storage units and entertainment consoles which can be passed between the front and the rear passengers.
The Mini Crossover Concept features a new display and control console which hosts all major entertainment, telecommunication and navigation functions. It is called the Mini 'Centre Globe'. This three dimensional globe can be personalised independently by both the driver and passenger as the display is shown in two hemispheres – for example, allowing the passenger to surf the net whilst the driver follows the navigation.
Operated by a touch-sensitive surface, the Mini centre globe can also be programmed by a trackball situated on the steering wheel, buttons or slide controls in the lower section of the globe, or even by a keyboard which extends out from the dashboard on the passenger’s side.
The centre globe also hosts the stop/start function, whereby the driver inserts a keyball into the upper edge to start and switch off the engine.
