25 Years of MINI Design at BMW Group: From Classic Mini to Modern Icon

MiG - Presse · Leverkusen

BMW Group celebrates a quarter century of MINI design evolution with a new video showing the transformation from the Classic Mini to the modern MINI. The piece examines how designers preserved the original character while leading it into a new era. The Mini remained practically unchanged for 40 years. "It was our job as designers to preserve its soul while leading it into a new era," explains Adrian van Hooydonk, Head of BMW Group Design. MINI has created its own icons over the years. "This work is never finished – we must keep driving it forward," emphasizes Holger Hampf, Head of MINI Design. Hampf also highlights personalization: "No MINI is like any other. MINI gives people the opportunity to express their lifestyle and tell their own story." The article describes MINI's enduring design elements: round headlights, compact proportions, short overhangs, and the characteristic go-kart handling. The current "Charismatic Simplicity" design language reduces designs to the essentials while enabling extensive personalization, especially visible in the MINI Cooper Electric with its purist approach. Following BMW Group's Rover acquisition in 1994, designers faced a pivotal question: how to preserve the essence of the original Mini while modernizing it – ultimately transforming a practical compact car into a premium style icon.

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25 years of MINI Design at the BMW Group: From the classic Mini to a new icon PDF, EN, 172.47 KB