THE latest five-door version of the iconic brand MINI should be the biggest ‘normal’ car from the UK manufacturer, according to head of design Anders Warming.
Speaking at the international launch of the first five-door hatchback, Warming said only future safety legislation would see the breaking of the four-metre overall length barrier by MINI for a model that is not a cross-over such as the Countryman.
He said: “I could, however, imagine that we have reached a peak as far as growing. I think a family car such as this five-door at 4-metres, I can imagine that number is going to remain the standard. I don’t think this car is going to grow any bigger than this unless there is pressure outside MINI, such as legislation asking for bigger crash zones. But as far as the product offer for the customer, I think this is a good size.”
He said pointers of how MINI hopes to develop into the future are clear to see in both the Clubman and the Superleggera Vision concepts that have been revealed earlier this year.
Yet, Warming admitted designers are exploring just how far the marque can be taken forward without sacrificing its unique appeal.
He said: “The Clubman concept we have shown has more length but is still shorter than its competitors in that segment. And this is about where we will be going with MINI.
“We also showed the MINI Superleggera Vision a couple of months ago and that is also relatively compact with a wheelbase comparable to a Porsche Boxster or something like that but the overhangs are so much shorter that it is an amazingly compact little sports car.
“And that’s our answer to the future design is that if we are in that particular sector, this is the sort of compact car we would be making.”
However, one of the major unforeseeable influences on car design is any future safety legislation, which could restrict designers’ ambitions for their brands.
Warming explained: “Every car segment is going to be driven by legislation that means that each brand or marque will have to grow together or not. My point is that if all marques have to grow, and that includes VW, Peugeot, etc., we would like to be doing a better job at keeping the MINI in any of those segments proportionately small.
“We look at the engineering requirements and then keep the proportions, and particularly the overhangs, as short as possible. These will always look better on MINIs and they always will.”
