BMW walked away with 4 Good Design Awards for 2010. Founded in Chicago in 1950 by architects Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., GOOD DESIGN bestows international recognition upon the world's most prominent designers and manufacturers for advancing new, visionary, and innovative product concepts, invention and originality, and for stretching the envelope beyond what is considered ordinary product and consumer design. This coveted international design accolade was bestowed on the BMW 5 Series Sedan, the MINI Countryman, the BMW S 1000 RR and the BMW Concept 6 design study.
Cool! This is especially interesting in light of all the "too big to be a true mini" comments that the Mini Countryman is getting.
Do you think that the judges used "is it small enough to be a real MINI" as part of their criteria? Because it was given a design award, doesn't necessarily mean that it's not too big to be a true MINI. I think the body roll alone makes it not a true MINI.
What body roll are you talking about, I own a CM and it does not roll. I have an 07 mod'd MCS to compare, sure it's not as tight, but actually is better than my 07 was before I mod'd from the stock base suspension with TSW springs and 19mm rear bar. :arf: Now, it is not small compared to the R53, R56 Coupes, but hey it was not intended to be small. Don Super that it won some accolades, a lot of buying them like hot-cakes.
I think these types of awards are all very well, especially for the car designer and architects of the world but it doesn't change people's mind about a product. People either love a MINI or not, and it's unlikely some award will tip somebody who's on the fense. Nevertheless it is nice to recognize the designers and a alike who worked on such a project as the Countryman. Well done. Now if MINI could just start winning a bunch of reliability awards.