BMW and Toyota to co-operate on new small car, bringing the MINI Rocketman Concept to market ?

BMW Group and Toyota Motor Corp. may expand their cooperation to include the joint development of a new addition to BMW's Mini range, a German auto magazine reported.

BMW is considering an entry-level car for Mini that would be called the Mini Minor, Autobild said. Toyota could launch its own version of the model, which may be badged as the Starlet, the report said. Automobile magazine also reported on the cooperation talksbetween the two companies.

A Mini spokesman declined to comment on the report, telling Automotive News Europe that it was "mere speculation."

If built, the Minor is expected to be smaller and less expensive than Mini's core model, the three-door hatchback. Based on the Mini Rocketman concept unveiled at the 2011 Geneva auto show, the Minor will be 11-feet, 4-inches long, which is 14.5 inches shorter than the three-door hatch.

With a sticker price of about 13,500 euros ($15,300), the Minor would undercut the three-door Mini hatch by nearly 4,000 euros ($4,500).

It's unclear if the model would be brought to the U.S.

The Mini Minor’s name would revive a moniker first given to the early versions of the car built by the UK brand Morris in the early 1960s.

BMW is expected to add an electric version of the Mini Minor after the first conventionally powered models arrive in 2018 or 2019, the report said.

Mini is shaking up its lineup as it seeks to make the brand profitable. While the Minor would be an addition to the portfolio Mini is likely to discontinue three weak-selling models: the Coupe, Roadster and Paceman.

BMW and Toyota formed an alliance in 2011 to cooperate on diesel engines and have since expanded the collaboration to include fuel cell and battery cell technology, lightweight materials as well as the joint development of an architecture and components for a sports car.

David Jolley

REPORT HERE

Original Mini and Mini Metro now becoming rare.

There are still 8,176 original Minis driving around British roads whereas its unloved replacement, the Mini Metro sold under the Austin and Rover brands, has fared less well with just 3,262 left despite being produced later on.

According to WeLoveAnyCar.com, there are 34 different Austin Mini models remaining on UK roads. Some models are the last of their kind; someone is driving around Britain in the last licensed Austin Mini ‘850 Van’ and there are just 3 Mini ‘SPL’ versions left.

Only 3,261 of the poorly-built and unloved Austin and Rover Metros are left on the roads with an amazingly high 77 model versions. Some are facing total extinction; there is just one Austin Metro ‘HL’ left and two licensed Rover Metro ‘MG Turbo’ versions remaining.

A WeLoveAnyCar.com spokesman said, “Since we launched our #CarCountUK page, 10s of thousands of people have visited the site to see how many of the cars they knew, loved and drove remain on British roads. Of the greatest surprise to many is the fact that they are discovering the car they drive today might also be quite rare.”

Today’s Exclusive Cars

BMW has been successful worldwide with the modern Mini and there are 490,376 registered for British roads. There are only three Mini Cooper Graphite C-Man DA models registered: their owners can rightly claim to own a very rare and exclusive modern car.  The most exclusive Mini driver in Britain is the owner of the only Mini One ‘Soho Clubman Auto’ registered before December 2013.

There are 206 different modern Mini models registered to drive on British roads.  In an increasing trend to ‘design’ a car, offered by Fiat 500, Vauxhall Adam and others, prospective owners can choose exactly what they want from thousands of extras to add on to the hundreds of base models available.

WeLoveAnyCar.com, the UK’s biggest car review site with over 601,179 car owner reviews and opinions, designed their #CarCountUK website so anyone could find out how many of a certain model of car is left registered to drive on public roads.  The figures are produced each year by the government and WeLoveAnyCar.com has taken this and reprocessed the information so it is easy, and free, to use. There may be other models of any of the cars mentioned in garages and sheds but these, for whatever reason, have been taken off the road by their owners.