2012 BMW Mini Cooper Coupe (L) was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show. 2012 BMW Mini Cooper Roadster (R)
Mini's new crossover SUV, the Countryman, is not the only new model joining the lineup. Mini will add two more models, a coupe and roadster, next year, Ian Robertson, BMW AG board member for sales and marketing, said at last spring's Geneva motor show.
Mini, it seems, is at a crossroads. Almost everyone agrees that Mini has had a big impact on changing North American perceptions - especially American perceptions - about small cars as premium rides. Mini has been BMW's great success over the past decade at doing that. Indeed, Wolfgang Armbrecht, Mini's senior vice-president of brand management in Munich, argues that his brand has helped shaped the latest ideas about high-performance, premium cars in smaller packages.
Mini's success lies in the fact BMW chose not to overplay the historical angle - not to market it as a small British hatchback with roots in the swinging 1960s. Smart move. Instead, Mini arrived in 2002 with a deft marketing plan at just the time when social pressures and volatile fuel prices began to spur a permanent, though slow, shift in the North American zeitgeist - when "big is always better" began to lose its lustre.
BMW's idea with its version of the Mini -much bigger than the original and often an affront to purists who drooled over the pint-sized perfection of the original - had everything to do with creating a new authenticity for a storied brand that had changed hands from British to German ownership. BMW's Mini arrived with enthusiastic handling, strong braking and tight steering. The base engine may have been limp, but the Cooper S had plenty of zip right out of the box.
The Mini brand today is a constant work in progress and all of it is orchestrated behind high-security in a bleak industrial sector of Munich. Look up and there are motion cameras to monitor what's going on all around Mini headquarters. Only one person can pass through a capsule-like door and mobile phones are confiscated - no pictures, no calls.
Here, Mini develops the ideas behind the brand and the cars and other co-branded products - pens, refrigerators - that enhance the Mini image around the world. Mini also encourages personalization with hundreds of add-ons and paint schemes available for buyers.
For BMW, Mini is not just a source of pride, it's also a source of profits. Big ones. Auto analysts say that few cars have the profit margins of a Mini and that's why BMW guards this gem against slights which might sully its value. The Countryman, for instance, is not an SUV, say Mini people, it's a crossover.
Mini creator Sir Alec Issigonis may have dreamed about creating the perfect car for the masses, but BMW has always had entirely something else in mind. Mini is all about being a unique niche brand. The masses can buy Ford Fiestas or Volkswagen Golfs.
But with expansion, Mini risks losing is exclusivity. Niche vehicles are by definition sold in small numbers. But Mini now sells more than 200,000 units a year. Moreover, there is the authenticity question. The Countryman will be the first BMW Mini built outside of the southern England factory BMW created more than a decade ago. The Countryman, instead, will be built in Graz, Austria, in a plant where the BMW X3 had up to know been assembled.
Thus, Mini is treading a fine line. By adding an SUV, Mini is reacting to a downsizing market trend in buyer habits with a larger model that is more functional. The Countryman is a useful ride, but it's not a gargantuan SUV of the traditional type.
So now we're witnessing Mini attempting quite the balancing act. As will all such acts, there is the danger of falling badly.