Chinese police in the port city of Tianjin got themselves a new vehicle: a brand-new Mini Cooper in police livery and with white police license plates. Netizens (the official Chinglish word for ‘internet activist’) noted the strange police vehicle and actually went to the nearby police station for an explanation about why their tax-money was spend on an obviously useless police car. For those of my readers who live in Tianjin, the location is Dongting Road, Tanggu, Binhai New Area. Anywayz, back to the story. Those curious netizens didn’t get passed the hallway, they were told to bugger off, ‘no comment’. They didn’t give up and called the police station, then they were told the Mini Cooper was a ‘gift from the factory’. This sure is strange since the Mini ain’t made in China. However, the netizens didn’t get any more. The police-Mini is now everywhere on the Chinese internet. Heck, the Tianjin police better rebadge it as a Lifan 320, like their colleagues in Fengchenggang did with a Benz…
Mini is doing very good business in China. The standard car is extremely popular with womenfolk, the Clubman is doing ok and the new Countryman is going like hell in SUV-crazy China. All Mini’s are imported. Two more Mini’s are coming: the Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster. A couple of test vehicles was spotted in a suburb of Beijing. Carnewschina reports that angry citizens asked the police why a Mini Cooper when the standard issue Santana would have done nicely. The received the runaround first, then were told that the car was a “gift from the factory.” There is no Mini Cooper factory in China. In the meantime, the small car went viral in China.