It has been a busy week for the all-new Mini hatch, with the car presented on three continents in three days. Following its debut in London on November 18, the Mini was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show and then at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Since North America is Mini’s largest market, the LA show is an important venue for the BMW-owned carmaker. Mini sold more than 55,000 cars on the continent this year and looks set for a new sales record next year. That’s where the new 2015 Mini hatch comes in, as the core model is expected to help increase sales.
To do that, the new Mini is longer, wider and taller, promising a roomier interior – especially for rear passengers. The design may not have changed very much, but there are important changes under the metal.
Based on BMW’s newly developed UKL1 platform, the new Mini is available with a new generation of 1.5-liter 3-cylinder and 2.0-liter 4-cylinder twin-turbocharged gasoline engines.
At launch, customers will have three options: the Mini Cooper with 134HP (136PS) from the 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine, the Mini Cooper S with 189HP (192PS) from the 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine and Mini Cooper D with 114HP (116PS) from a 1.5-liter 3-cylinder diesel engine. All three models are offered as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox (a six-speed auto is optional).
Obviously, the fastest of the lot is the Cooper S (0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds), while the most economical is the Cooper D, with 3.5 – 3.6 liters/100 km (67.2 - 65.3 mpg US) and 92 – 95 g of CO2/km (dependent on tire format selected).
The new Mini Cooper is priced from €19,700 ($26,525) in Germany, while the Cooper D and Cooper S start from €21,450 ($28,882) and €23,800 ($32,050), respectively. Prices in the U.S. will be announced closer to launch.
By Andrei Nedelea
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