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

MiG - Presse · Leverkusen

The 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 kept the original character while moving it into a new era. The Mini remained practically unchanged for 40 years. "Our task as designers was to preserve its soul while taking it into a new era," says Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design. MINI has created its own icons over the years. "The work never ends – we must keep pushing it forward," emphasizes Holger Hampf, head of MINI Design. Hampf also highlights personalization: "No MINI is like any other. MINI gives people the chance to express their lifestyle and tell their own story." The article outlines MINI’s lasting design elements: round headlights, compact proportions, short overhangs and characteristic go‑kart handling. The current "Charismatic Simplicity" language strips designs to essentials while enabling extensive personalization, especially visible on the MINI Cooper Electric with its purist approach. After BMW’s 1994 Rover acquisition, designers faced a pivotal question: how to retain the original Mini’s essence while modernising it, ultimately turning 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