Maybe he can make MINI's small and minimal again.
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Dave.0 Helix & RMW PoweredLifetime Supporter
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http://www.motoringfile.com/2013/12/07/frank-stephenson-on-mini-design-theyve-lost-it/
They’ve lost it. [When] they chose to change the design, [c. 2007] perhaps that would have been the best moment to break away and really innovate like the original Mini did. With all the new technology today, how would you reinterpret a small car with the technology that BMW’s capable of using for that type of car?
You can imagine a very small car like a Mini with the innovative packaging again, putting maximum amount of space around the very limited four occupants, for example, how to carry luggage and all that. So I was hoping for a breakthrough, creative look to the new Mini to the new, new [second-generation] Mini.
If he rejoins MINI, I would hope for a small city car like Rocketman, but I think he would be severely constrained with BMW's current approach that every car must be built on a shared platform. -
Minidave Well-Known MemberLifetime Supporter
I (like many others) also think they missed a good bet when they started upmarket and upsized everything.
But where I think they went wrong was in not keeping the small cars and adding the big ones under a different name, just like they did back when, leveraging the name further and keeping truer to the original.
IOW, they could have had Minis, MINIs and say, Maxxi's
I understand the fact that they needed bigger cars to compete in the US market - just look how well the original Countryman sold and the newer even bigger Clubman and Countryman are selling - but they took a wrong turn in their marketing, IMHO. -
checkers Well-Known Member
It's time to call them MAXI not mini. Find a truck designer.