Mid-engined MINI supercar mooted
British mini-car brand could build a high-performance tiddler to take on the Alpine A110MINI has not given up on a stand-alone hero car to be positioned above the fire-breathing 225kW MINI GP hot hatch. And there's talk it could even be a mid-engine machine.
Having just launched its first EV, the MINI Electric, and with plans to develop even smaller models as it moves to newer and more scalable EV platforms, the British brand has desires to unleash an Alpine A110-rivalling mid-engine vehicle.
The current generation of MINI vehicles – under BMW's stewardship – have always been front-drive and front-engined vehicles, with the option of all-wheel drive on some models.
"But if we give our engineers some more spare [time and resource], they'll come up with a mid-engine car," said MINI’s head of communications Andreas Lampka during the MINI Electric launch in Miami this week.
Quizzed over whether this would be MINI's idea of a compact supercar, Lampka hinted future high-performance MINI machinery wouldn’t necessarily need have a combustion engine.
"You are talking about the Superleggera?" he asked.
The 2014 MINI Superleggera concept was revealed at the ritzy Villa d’Este Concorso car show on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, and was an EV. (pictured in official sketches here)
Crafted largely from aluminium and designed with a little help from Italian design house Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, the vehicle was very much a flight of fancy.
Nevertheless, Lampka said there was scope for such a sports car from MINI in future.
"Let's see how the brand develops. Because yes, it is exciting times for MINI. We are confident we are making the right decisions and the other side you don’t know what is going to be the next challenge for the brand," he said.
The BMW Group's global sales were up by a couple of per cent to set a new record of 2.5 million vehicles last year, spread across BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad.
While MINI sales were down globally by four per cent to 346,639, sales of sporty BMW M vehicles were up by a whopping 32 per cent (135,826). It could be that MINI sees more opportunities in high-performance, premium machinery.
With a mid-engine sports car being discussed internally at MINI, who knows what's next? MINI pick-up, anyone?
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