It seems the design study that was the MINI Rocketman will forever stay just that. BMW has told Car Magazine the 2011 Geneva Motor Show debutant was prohibitively expensive for a vehicle of such diminutive proportions, and that is abridged Cooper underpinnings would unlikely meet stability requirements, nor EuroNCAP safety standards.Measuring 3419mm long, the pint-sized MINI would have fit beneath the Cooper hatch in MINI’s line-up. Originally slated for release in 2016, Rocketman could have offered urban hipsters a condensed Cooper more closely resembling the dimensions of Sir Alec Issigonis’ original BMC model, or indeed Mercedes-Benz’s smart for-two. In the interim, Australian aficionados of the MINI brand will soon experience the Coupe and Roadster models which will join the Cooper line-up from February this year.
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