Minimal Minimalism

When the Mini Cooper D arrives in Australian showrooms in May it will herald a new era for the brand. It will pit Mini head-to-head against the Toyota Prius and could be the first of many efficiency-focused models from the German-owned company.

In addition to a frugal 1.6-litre turbodiesel engine, the car will rely on Minimalism, the brand's version of parent company BMW's Efficient Dynamics. Automatic start/stop, Brake Energy Regeneration, Shift Point Display, underbody aerodynamics and on-demand functioning ancillaries are all features of the Minimalism designed to reduce consumption and emissions.

MINI is a brand built as much on style as substance, but the Cooper D will take the brand into new territory. As a package the Cooper D will be the most fuel-efficient and lowest CO2-emitting vehicle on the market when it is launched in May, surpassing the Smart ForTwo. But both will be overtaken by the new generation Prius when it goes on sale in July, as we reported earlier this week (more here).

Despite MINI using the Prius and Smart as benchmarks in its presentations to the media, MINI Australia national manager, Justin Hocevar is playing down the prospects of the brand taking on Toyota.

"We're not a volume brand and we offer something quite different," he says. "We offer a car that's still got customisation and is still quite individual; we have a broad range of colour and options. We've got a car that's styling is unique to its own. And we've got a car that is quite fun to drive. It's less about just getting from Point A to Point B while using as little fuel as possible and as few emissions. It's also about having an enjoyable drive from A to B and having a sustainability solution. I think the important thing also is that it's not only fuel efficient and low [in] emissions, we know from its manufacturing and recycling its footprint is relatively low, perhaps compared to some other vehicles that have taxing manufacturing processes on some of [their] componentry."

Hocevar admits the company is investigating installing Minimalism features on petrol models in the future. But a lot depends on the success of the Cooper D.

"We are looking at it, it's on the horizon," Hocevar tells the Carsales Network. "We haven't made a definitive decision on the direction yet. We really have had a long battle to get the Cooper D here. I think it's going to be a case of let's get the Cooper D into the market and see how the technology is adopted. In unison we'll be looking at how this may or may not fit with the rest of the product portfolio."

Also under consideration are more diesel models with the five-door Clubman the most likely recipient of the next oil burner if Australian buyers take to the Cooper D.

"We have the possibility further down the track of introducing the Clubman D," Hocevar says. "Once again it's a case of seeing how we go with the Cooper D. This is our first foray into the diesel market and we're pleased we've been able to get this model in at this price point; particularly when Australian importers are fighting a negative currency situation. We're really quite happy to bring it in with just a nominal increase over the standard model. Our focus has been on launching that model and we'll see how that goes and then give consideration to bringing other Cooper D variants in."

He is less committed on the prospect of a diesel Cabrio though, citing a limited history of successful turbodiesel convertibles locally.
 
"I wouldn't rule it out," he says.

One car he did rule out is a diesel variant of the John Cooper Works hot hatch that was raised in the European media recently.

"No, no John Cooper Works diesel. There's nothing on the horizon yet," he says.